Coffee versus Tea
by ALoveForWords
Summary: Newtina Modern AU: They meet at a muggle coffee shop, get to talking and form a friendship. But is friendship all that is in store for Miss Porpentina Goldstein, the American witch in London, and Mr. Newt Scamander, the British wizard in a muggle coffee shop?
1. Chapter 1: Newt and Tina Meet

It was a sunny morning in London, something new that Tina Goldstein had come to appreciate ever since she started living here. She was born and raised in New York and being used to the warmth of her hometown, London came as quite a surprise to her. She was pretty convinced the sun didn't exist in London what with the never-ending rain and the cold, damp air. Nevertheless, she has grown to love its wetness and cherishes the few times the sun has come out to bring warmth to this usually damp place.

She was waiting in line at her favorite No-Maj ('muggle', she reminds herself) coffee shop so she could order her usual black coffee with two sugars. She looks back and peaks out the store windows as the woman in front of her was ordering a latte. She smiles before the barista calls her attention and asks her for her order.

"One tall black coffee, two sugars please," she responds happily, blaming the sun for her gleeful mood. The barista smiles at her and punches in her order. Tina gives the exact amount of muggle money to the barista and walks to retrieve her drink. Oddly enough she did well with British muggle money, better than with American No-Maj money she'd say.

She then surveys the packed cafe, wanting to find a seat where she could sit alone and enjoy her coffee and contemplate why in the name of Deliverance Dane she even considered moving to Great Britain. She opts to check the outside tables, since the interior of the cafe was packed with British muggles who oddly enough weren't drinking coffee but tea. She could never understand why people would want to drink something that disgusting. She pushes the door at the entrance of the cafe and searches for a free table where she could hopefully drink her coffee in peace and enjoy the sun as well. As she examines the four coffee tables that have been set up outside the café that she has grown to love, she realizes that there weren't any seats available here either.

"Oh c'mon!" she exclaims exasperated. "Of all the days this place could be packed, it's today when the sun is out."

Tina looks at the tables again, determined to have one, hoping that one of these customers would leave soon so she could have her turn to soak in the warmness from the sun. The first table was occupied by a couple who were enjoying what looked like tea and a couple of croissants, the second table was occupied by a group of friends who didn't look a day older than 20, they had their books out and were obviously cramming for an assignment of some sort, the third table was occupied by an elderly man who was reading his morning paper, fat chance he would be leaving anytime soon. The fourth and last table was occupied by a dashing young man, who didn't look a day over 30. To Tina's surprise the man was drinking coffee and chewing on the end of a ballpoint pen as he was trying to figure out what to write next in his journal. His coffee was already halfway gone, and Tina was pretty sure it had gone cold because he looked like he had been sitting on that table for a while now. Tina finally felt her feet complain for standing too long so she decided to approach the young man and ask him if it would be a bother if she shared the table with him. There's no harm in trying, right?

Tina walks over to the young man's table and taps him on the shoulder, "uhm, excuse me mister. Would it bother you if I shared this table? The cafe's packed you see, and I would really like to enjoy the morning sun while I can."

Her voice was firm and confident. She looked at the young man with anticipation and he looked back up at her with eager curiosity. It felt like they have been staring at each other for a while when Tina finally decided to cleared her throat and the young man awkwardly agreed to let her share his table.

"Yeah, sure, take a seat." he says nervously, immediately ducking his head back to his journal when he realized that he just stared at a stranger whose name he doesn't know for a good 5 minutes. "I'm almost done anyway."

"Thank you," she replies curtly as she sets down her tall black coffee with two sugars and takes the seat opposite his. "I'm really sorry for bothering you. I really wouldn't have had it not been for the warm weather today. It _is_ lovely don't you think?"

The young man peers up at her again, curiosity laced in his eyes. "A-a-are you seriously asking me about the weather?"

Tina was dumbfounded by his reply. She chuckled nervously and replied. "Uhm, yeah? Heh, I know, cliche, sorry."

She ducks her head, slightly embarrassed at how stupid she felt for asking a complete stranger about the weather. She twiddles her fingers nervously under the coffee table as the young man goes back to scribbling something in his journal. It looked like he was drawing a creature of some sort. She sneaked a peek at his journal and noticed that the creature he was drawing was something she had never seen before.

 _Must be for a story or something._ Tina thinks to herself as she picks up her coffee and takes a sip, reveling in the taste of good warm coffee.

"Yes," comes an answer from the young man in front of her. "I do think the weather is lovely today."

Tina was shocked when she heard a sultry Bristish accent coming from the man in front of her. She obviously knew he was British, but she thought that the weather subject has been dropped after he called her out on the cliche that it was. She wasn't expecting him to speak to her after that. She turned to look at him, expecting him to be looking at her as he speaks. But instead she was met by him still scribbling away in his journal, head ducked as if to shield himself from the world he was currently in.

Tina continues to stare at the young man who was scribbling away at his journal, looking content to be doing so. She couldn't find the right words to say next. Her mouth hung agape as she was trying to figure out what to say when the young man looked up from his journal, placing his ballpoint pen down beside it.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes, giving her a dorky smile as he finally closes his journal and places it in a pocket of his coat. "if I just made you uncomfortable right now. You see I'm not really good with people."

If his answer before about the weather didn't already throw Tina off, this confession would have. Who tells a complete stranger they're not good with people just out of the blue like that? _This man apparently._

Tina was still stunned at how bold, yet awkward this young man she was sharing a table with was. She was not unfamiliar with men, even British men, but this one particularly was throwing her off, disarming her in a very unique way she has never experienced with any other guy before.

She grabs hold of her coffee cup, brings it to her mouth and takes in a large gulp of coffee to calm her nerves. After taking a sip, she places her coffee cup on the table and rests her arms on it as she then attempts to open her mouth and give a polite response to this stranger, but her mind was blank, she couldn't conjure up any kind of response to what he just said.

 _Damn it, Tina. Think of something to say, anything just to stop all the awkwardness you're feeling right now. You're not usually this nervous around anyone. C'mon think!_

Tina's mind was racing, trying to find the correct thing to say, _anything_ to say to this man because he was still looking at her intently, with that dorky and somewhat endearing smile of his. The man moves to take a sip of his already cold coffee as Tina was still thinking of what to say. It takes him two large gulps of his cold coffee before he consumes it all. In between sips he gives Tina that endearing dorky smile of his and by the time he has finally finished his drink, he gives Tina one last dorky smile and a glance before he stands and says, "Well, it was nice sharing a coffee table with you Miss - uh - I just realized, I don't know your name. How rude of me."

"It's Tina, Tina Goldstein." she supplies as she offers her hand for him to shake. He takes it in his own hands and gives it a tiny shake before he lets go.

"It was nice sharing a table with you Miss Goldstein," he finally says as he tucks the chair he was sitting on inside the coffee table they were sharing. "I hope you enjoy your coffee, and the weather as well."

One final glance and smile and he turned his back on her, walked to the edge of the block and turned, Tina just staring at the direction he was going, still stunned at what had transpired between them this fine, sunny morning.

Tina moves to take her cup and sip when she realizes something.

"Damn, I gave him my name, but I forgot to ask his." she whispers to herself. "What is up with you today, Tina?"

She shakes her head at herself and continues to take short sips from her cup, reveling in the warm London weather and thinking of Mr. Awkward-But-Cute British Guy.

* * *

Tina was surprised that the warm sunny weather decided to stay a little longer than usual in London. Usually when the sun does come out to play it only stays for a day or two at most, but it's been a week since the weather has been warm and not a single drop of rain has made an appearance anywhere in London. This makes Tina extremely happy because she felt like she was back home, with the sun out and enough vitamin D for her body to soak in.

She turns right and walks toward the same muggle (yes, she has gotten used to calling them 'muggle' and not 'No-Maj") coffee shop she met Mr. Awkward-But-Cute British Guy last week. They haven't crossed paths ever since their first somewhat awkward meeting the previous week and that somehow left Tina a little bit disappointed.

Tina pushes at the cafe entrance and surveys the place. Fortunately, the cafe wasn't that packed today. There was no line at the counter, there were a few empty seats both inside and outside the cafe and very few people in the cafe as a whole. She walks towards the counter and orders her usual black coffee with two sugars; the barista smiles at her and takes her payment before Tina turns to retrieve her drink.

Tina has decided that she wanted to enjoy the interior of the cafe this time, instead of drinking her cup of coffee outside, but she also wanted to enjoy the sunlight. She ended up choosing to take up an empty coffee table by the entrance of the cafe which was positioned near the windows, enough for her to get some sunlight in. Just as she was about to take her place in her chosen table, a man bumps into her, nearly spilling her _hot_ cup of coffee over her coat.

"Mercy Lewis!" Tina exclaims, trying to steady her coffee cup to prevent the contents from spilling all over her."Watch where you're going mister - !"

"I'm sorry," says the man who bumped into her. Tina's head snaps up, as she recognizes from his familiar voice who exactly just bumped into her. "I didn't mean to, I should have been looking where I was going."

Tina's mouth fell open as she was trying to say that it was okay, but he beat her to it. "Ah, Miss Goldstein! I didn't notice that it was you."

Newt glances from Tina to the table and then back at her again as he realizes that he was about to do what she was planning to do. "Let me guess, you were going to sit here?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was." Tina replied bluntly. "And I'm guessing you were too right?"

"My, my Miss Goldstein, we must stop meeting like this." he says and smiles that dorky smile. He motions to the table, offering her to take it. "You take it, I'll try and find somewhere else to sit, hopefully without causing any trouble. Have a nice day."

"Wait!" she calls out as Newt turns away. "Why not share the table with me again? It's not like we haven't done it before."

Tina smiles at Newt as she takes her seat, beckoning him to take the couch opposite to hers. He follows suit and sits down, a bit awkwardly at first, placing his cup of tea on the table.

Tina frowns as she sees his drink and says without thinking, "Oh, here I thought you were one of those British men who liked coffee. Guess I was wrong."

"What would have given you that idea?" Newt shrugs in reply as he picks up his cup of tea and takes a sip. "Of course I'm a tea man, Miss Goldstein. I'm British!"

"I've noticed that," she replies amused. "it's just, you were drinking coffee the last time we met. I just thought - anyway."

Tina ducks her head and pretends to take a sip off of her coffee as Newt says, "Oh that was a one-time thing, I promise you. You see, I lost a bet with my brother and he knew how much disliked the taste of coffee so he thought that that was a good way to waste his win. He bought me the cup of coffee here last week before he headed off to work. That's when you saw me."

Newt takes another sip from his cup and looks intently at Tina.

"So, you were gulping down that cup of coffee just to, what? Get it over with?" Tina asks in disbelief.

"Right you are, Miss Goldstein," Newt replies. "My brother would have found out one way or another if I simply threw away the contents of that cup. So, I just went and, as you put it so finely, 'got it over with'."

This makes Tina chuckle and shake her head. "You're a very unusual man Mister - "

It then hits her, she didn't know his name. Here she was, having what looked like a second coffee date with a man whose name she didn't know. She opens her mouth and attempts to ask him what his name was when the answer to the obvious question came rushing out of him immediately.

"Scamander, Newt Scamander," he says with a smile. "how is that unusual? I'm British, and I can tell you that some of us do prefer tea over coffee."

"It's not that," Tina explains. "it's that I knew more about you before I even got your name. Tell me Mr. Scamander, are you always like this with your friends?"

"Oh no, definitely not," was Newt's immediate response. "you see, I don't have friends."

This shocks Tina even more. Seriously, was there anything this man says or does that won't shock or surprise her at this point?

"Oh? Why not?"

"I annoy people." Newt blurts out casually without a care in the world, as if it was okay for him to not have friends. "I don't know how to act around them."

"I'm people," Tina says, peeking up from her coffee. "And you're not annoying me."

Newt smiles when he hears this.

"Although, it _is_ pretty annoying that you choose to sit at the spot I had my eyes on ever since I stepped inside the cafe this morning."

Tina takes another sip of her coffee, a ghost of a smile on her lips, loving that she finally got rid of all the awkwardness she felt the week before when it came to this Mr. Scamander. Newt on the other hand was looking nervously at Tina, as if he had done something wrong. Tina realizes this and hurriedly reassures him.

"Oh Mr. Scamander, that was a joke," Tina reassures Newt with a smile. "I just wanted to lighten the mood."

Newt let's out an inaudible sigh of relief and goes to wipe a bit of sweat that was already forming on his forehead. "Thank you for clarifying that Tina - I mean Miss Goldstein - I mean Tina, can I call you Tina? It would be okay if you prefer Miss Goldstein, I can call you whatever you want me to - "

"Tina's fine," she replies with an amused smile and a nod. "May I call you Newt then?"

"Yes, Newt's fine," he replies, ducking his head nervously, and then looking at her again and ducking his head again. "I mean, it's my name. So yes, call me Newt."

"Are you always this nervous, Mr. Scamander?" Tina inquires.

"Newt - " Newt interjects before he realizes that she was taunting him again. "Ah, you were trying to lighten the mood again."

"I'm glad you got that, _Newt_ ," she replies playfully, using his name to get the conversation back on track. "So? Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Are you always this nervous?"

It takes Newt a while to answer Tina. He thinks back to the few human interactions he has had in his past and realizes that the answer was no. Sure, he wasn't really comfortable with human interaction, he preferred being alone with his creatures and with the few (actually one, just one) friends that he had, but he has never been nervous this way. There was something about this Miss Tina Goldstein that made him act like a complete idiot.

"No," he finally replies. "I'm not always this nervous."

"Huh," Tina says, raising an eyebrow at Newt, as if challenging him.

"I mean that you know," Newt says in defense. "You can go ahead and ask the people who know me. I mean, I don't interact with people that much, but when I do, I don't act like a completely nervous idiot the way I do with you."

"It's nice to know that it only takes a coffee loving American girl to get you all jittery." Tina says with a smirk.

Newt ducks his head, his curly hair hiding the smirk he was making out of amusement.

"Why don't you interact with people then?" Tina asks, trying to change the subject and make Newt a little more comfortable in her presence.

"It's not a matter of me not interacting with them but them interacting with me," he answers her keenly. "I've told you before, I annoy people. So, most people choose not to talk to me and I see no reason for me to talk to them either."

"That's an interesting way to look at things Mr. Scamander," Tina replies, taking another sip of her coffee. She notices how he immediately goes to correct her, but she beats him to it and says, "Newt, I meant to say Newt."

"That's quite alright." He replies with a smile.

The two of them continue to converse in their little corner in the cafe, exchanging small comments about the weather (a bit of a surprise for Tina considering what happened the week before), a little debate of coffee versus tea and what not until both their drinks have been consumed. Newt finishes his cup of tea before Tina finishes hers. When she finally took the last sip of her coffee, he leans forward to ask Tina one final question before they part ways.

"Tina," he begins, a hint of a question in his voice. She looks at him with curiosity, saying nothing and just waiting for his question. "Do you know a place here in London called Diagon Alley?"

He knew that this question was enough to determine if Tina was a witch or not. Muggles have never heard of Diagon Alley simply because it was the only place in London that didn't exist to them. It only existed to wizards and only wizards and witches know how to get there or where specifically in London it is located. It has become a sort of center for the wizarding community in London.

This question comes off as a little of a shock to Tina. She wasn't expecting to meet another wizard in a muggle coffee shop, especially since she knew practically no one here in London. Ever since she moved here she has stuck to her neighborhood, which was heavily populated by muggles. She hasn't begun her work at the Ministry of Magic yet, so she didn't have wizarding friends yet in London, all the witches and wizards she knew she left behind in New York. So, when Newt asks her quite subtly if she was a witch, she was shocked.

"You're a wizard?!" she hissed in a hushed tone, leaning forward to make sure no one else heard them.

"And you're a witch." he says, stating a fact. He smiles and lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He stood up in front of her and offers her his hand to help her up from her chair. "Well, I'm glad I met you Miss Tina Goldstein, the American witch in London."

He was smiling at her and waiting for her to accept his help. She places her hand in his and allows him to help her up before she says, "I'm glad I met you too Mr. Newt Scamander, the British wizard in a muggle coffee shop."

They walk towards the entrance of the care, Newt holds the door open for Tina and they both exit the cafe, happy to have found a friend in the most unlikely place either of them thought they would.

* * *

A/N: So this Newtina Coffee AU has been stuck in my head since forever so I just had to write it. Let me know if I should continue it because I obviously have more to tell about this story but I ended it the way I did just in case I won't be able to, at least it had some sort of closure. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. Thanks for reading! (Also if there are any mistakes they are all mine, this was unbetaed and just something i typed out and posted immediately I apologize for any mistakes. I don't own Fantastic Beasts or Newtina, all the credits to the Queen JK Rowling.)


	2. Chapter 2: Newt's Proposition

In the next few days, Newt and Tina have formed some sort of routine. Each morning, they would arrive at that muggle coffee shop and sit for an hour or so to just talk and drink coffee (for Tina) and tea (for Newt). In those few hours, all they've done was argue between themselves which was better: coffee or tea. A few nasty blows about their nationalities would fly here and there, which would lead to them eventually laughing things off. Both Tina and Newt really looked forward to their little routine, it somehow bonded them.

Today, however, things would change. Tina's first day at the ministry has finally arrived, which meant that she had to forgo her early morning banter sessions with one Newt Scamander. So instead of going to her now favorite muggle coffee shop, she simply makes her own coffee with the coffee machine she had at home and placed it in a traveling mug and prepares for work. She hoped Newt won't be too disappointed when he doesn't find her at the coffee shop since she has forgotten to mention that she won't be able to continue with their morning tradition.

Tina checks her wristwatch and almost spills coffee all over her coat as she made haste towards her door. If she didn't leave soon she probably would be late for her first day at work, and that is not something she wanted to do on her first day. She walks towards a corner in her muggle-filled neighborhood, where she was sure it would be safe to apparate to the visitor's entrance of the ministry. She later arrives at work with 15 minutes to spare and immediately reports to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to get her auror's badge and to meet her boss.

She walked a little nervously towards the door with a gold plate on it labeled _"Theseus Scamander, Head of Magical Law Enforcement"_. She was about to knock when the name on the gold plate reminded her someone she met a few times at her favorite muggle coffee shop.

 _I wonder how many wizards actually carry the name 'Scamander' here in UK._ Tina thought to herself, her knuckles raised in preparation to knock.

Tina takes a deep breath and as she was about to knock on the door, it opened on its own accord and revealed a man in his middle ages with curly auburn hair, who reminded Tina of someone else she knew. She stared at the man dumbfounded, her mouth agape and arms still in the air.

"Oh, you must be Miss Goldstein," the man says, looking at her a little quizzically and at the way her body was tensed.

"Yes," Tina stammers nervously, realizing how stupid she must look like right now. "that's me. I'm here to - "

"Report for your first day of work, I reckon." he interrupts her playfully, a smug smile on his face.

He beckons her inside his office and sits behind his desk. He then looks up at Tina, who has entered his office and closes the door behind her. He walks back and takes the seat behind his desk and surveys his new hire who was still standing in front of his desk. He waits patiently for her to take the seat in front of his desk, but she still decided to stand. So he extended one of his hands and offers her one of the seats in front of his desk. "Please have a seat, Miss Goldstein."

Tina walks towards one of the seats in front of Theseus Scamander's desks and sits opposite him and tries to shake off the nerves she was getting, and some of the thoughts of Newt that were beginning to form in her mind.

Theseus surveys her again before he addresses her formally. "So, Miss Goldstein I would like to welcome you to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I'm Theseus Scamander, the head of said department and your boss."

Theseus opens the top cupboard to his right and rummages to find a small brown envelope that Tina guess would contain everything she needed to start her job as an auror for the ministry. As soon as he finds the envelop, he places it on top of his desk and opens it to reveal Tina's ID badge.

"Here Miss Goldstein," he says, handing her the ID. "This will be all you need for now. Your desk is right outside with your name on it. There will be a couple of files on top of it to start your day off, just a few simple cases for you to study in case our lead aurors would need help in solving them. If you have any questions about specific cases, ask the lead auror, their names are stated at the top of each case. Aurors have to report promptly every morning but aren't required to stay at their desks for the whole day. Since you're new here all I ask of you is to read those files before you decide to leave your desk, and as soon as you're done with them please let me know so I can inform our lead aurors they can send you to the field. It is also then that you can start managing your own time. Your badge will notify you whenever the department needs you for any specific case and you must respond immediately when the call comes. If you have any questions regarding anything else, my door is always open. Have a great first day, Miss Goldstein."

Tina sat silently as Theseus was giving her instructions. She observed him as he talked and couldn't help but wonder how he was related to Newt. He had a few similar facial features, the nose and his eyes particularly. And where Newt's face was full of freckles, Theseus was free of them. His hair had a darker tint to it and was a lot less shorter than Newt's. He had a confidence about him that Newt lacked in some ways but they both share the same curious gaze about them when they were observing someone or something else. All these observations made Tina wonder how closely related he was to Newt. A first cousin maybe? Hell, a brother?

 _Newt hasn't mentioned anything about a brother these past few days._ Tina thought as Theseus came to an end of his speech. _Why the hell would he silly? All you've talked about is coffee and tea, you haven't reached_ that _part of your friendship yet._

Tina hears Theseus bid her a good day, which made her realize that it was time for her to head to her desk and start reading those cases he had just mentioned. She stands up gave her new boss a respectful nod and a silent 'thank you' before she exits his office and closes the door behind her.

"Get a grip, Goldstein," she mutters to herself as soon as she was out of Theseus' office. "Today is supposed to be about making a career for yourself here in London, not about trying to figure out if someone you know is actually related to your boss. Besides, you're not even sure how many Scamanders actually live in London."

She shakes her head at herself and walks to her desk a few paces from his office. The aurors' workplace here at the ministry was not different from the ones back home, Tina remarks as she scans her new workplace. Each auror had a table separated by cubicles so as to give each of them privacy to do his or her own work. Tina counted no less than a hundred desks from where she was standing and most of the desks were empty but stacked with a ton of papers.

Tina finally arrived at her desk with a small golden plate with her name engraved with her name on it was staring at her.

"Porpentina Goldstein," Tina reads as she touches the engraved text with her fingers before moving past it and into her cubicle to take a seat and look at the paperwork her new boss told her was awaiting her.

She slumps onto the chair in her cubicle and starts to go through the papers stacked on her desk, trying as hard as she can to take in everything she was reading.

By lunchtime, she had gone through every single file and memorized almost all the details of each case, including who the lead auror of each case was. So, Tina grabs her trusty grey coat and heads to Theseus' office to inform him or her progress when she nearly bumps into him on the way there.

"That's twice that you almost ran into me today, Goldstein," Theseus jokes, making Tina a little nervous.

"I'm sorry sir," Tina counters immediately, trying to save face and her job. "I was meant to go to your office to inform you that I've read all the files you've given me when I bumped into you, sir."

"Calm down, Goldstein, I was just trying to lighten the mood, loosen you up, make sure that you aren't too intimidated by me." Theseus says charmingly.

"It's hard not to be intimidated by you sir," Tina stammers. "You being my boss and all."

"Well don't be," he says to her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she looks up at him. "We here at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement may be hardcore workers but we aren't uptight. You're free to go home if you wish since you've read all the reports. I'll inform the lead aurors that they can now send you out onto the field if they need extra help. Good day to you Goldstein."

With a curt nod, Theseus leaves Tina dumfounded yet again. She shakes herself out of her reverie and walks to the elevators that would help her get out of the ministry and hopefully somewhere close to home.

She decided she wanted to eat something first and that she should do so somewhere closer to where she lived. So, she stepped out of the visitor's entrance of the ministry and apparated back to the spot safe from muggles in her muggle-filled neighborhood.

Tina walks past her apartment building and went straight for the muggle coffee shop she loved. She knew it was too late in the day for more coffee and that she needed real food, but not stopping by the place felt weird for her. So, she walks over to the familiar exterior and she pushes past the door when she bumps into someone who was exiting it.

"Shit!" Tina exclaims as hot brown liquid spilled from the cup of the person she bumped into on her way into the coffee shop. "Hot, hot, hot, hot! I'm sorry, I seem to be bumping into people all day today. I'm not sure where all this clumsiness is coming from, I'm sorry. I'll pay you back for your – "

"Tina?"

Tina was startled when she heard her name. She stopped fussing over the hot liquid that was burning her hands and staining the coat of the nice man she bumped into on her way in. She looks up at him and realizes that it was none other than Newt Scamander himself.

"Newt! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question!" Newt replies cheekily.

"Oh, so you're the only one allowed to visit _my_ coffee shop at lunchtime?" she banters back, placing her right hand on her hip and raising her right eyebrow, challenging him.

"Now, I didn't say that," Newt says defensively, holding out his arms in defense. "I just meant, why are you here now and not earlier this morning like usual?"

"Now it's my turn to say 'I could ask you the same question'," she smiled back. "You know what? I'm hungry and exhausted from a day's work but I do know I owe you morning coffee because I skipped out on you earlier, care to make up for that now?"

Tina looks at Newt, a question and an invite shining in her eyes, that disarmed Newt that all he could do was nod, step aside and allow Tina to enter the coffee shop and lead the way. Tina weaves through the small crowd of the coffee shop easily to find a secluded area inside that had two couches and a table that could seat two. She slumps down comfortably on one of the couches and motions for Newt to take the other one. He follows suit and makes himself comfortable.

"So, you were telling me how it is you're in the coffee shop now instead of earlier today?" Tina said immediately after Newt takes his seat next to hers.

"Wouldn't you want to order something to eat first?" Newt inquired with concern.

"Oh yeah, shoot! I almost forgot." Tina says, standing up and walking towards the counter. She realized that Newt wasn't behind her, so she turns and raises yet another inquiring eyebrow at her. "I seem to remember spilling your drink, meaning I owe you one. I also specifically remember saying I'll pay you for it but since you're here, would you want me to get it for you?"

"Uhm, yeah, sure," Newt answers a little nervously. "Since I'm here anyway. And I'll need something to drink while you interrogate me."

Tina rolls her eyes at her friend and asks, "What would it be then? Earl grey, oolong, green tea...?"

Newt bows his head and stares mainly at his feet. This was the first time Tina has seen Newt this nervous when he's around her. She had thought that those days of forming a routine every morning made them comfortable around each other but seeing Newt this way threw her off. She waited patiently though for her friend to tell her what his order was.

"I ordered what you usually order every morning," Newt says timidly after a few seconds ticked by. "Black coffee, two sugars."

Newt still avoids Tina's gaze and wasn't able to see her smug face of triumph as she marches off to the counter to order Newt and herself black coffee with two sugars while she orders herself a ham and cheese roll to appease her rumbling stomach. She waits for their order at the counter and tries to maneuver herself over to the corner spot they were sitting at once the order arrived. By the time she arrives at their table, Newt was no longer staring at the floor and was back to his confident (if you can call it that) self.

"Black coffee, two sugars," Tina says rather smugly, as she passes on the drink to Newt before she takes the empty seat beside him.

"Please don't say 'I told you so'," Newt says immediately as Tina was removing the remaining contents of their tray onto their table. "I haven't actually tasted the blasted drink yet. I just thought I should taste it and see for myself what's so great about coffee that you defend it with so much reverence."

Tina takes a sip of her drink, feigning innocence. "I didn't say a thing."

"You were thinking it."

"How could I not when all we argue about **every...single...morning** is which is better?" Tina admits out loud. "But whatever. You're gonna admit by the end of today that I was right, I can feel it."

"No madam," Newt retorts in a very curt, British way. "I am not admitting to defeat until _you_ buy yourself a nice hot cup of tea and agree that it _is_ the superior drink."

Newt takes a sip of his drink, trying to hide the fact he was actually enjoying it as Tina tries to read the expression on his face. Newt puts the drink hastily back onto the table and continues the conversation they were starting to have at the entrance of the coffee shop.

"So, Miss Goldstein," he begins. "Why again are you here at lunchtime instead of your usual mornings?"

"I believe, Mr. Scamander, I was the one asking you that question before we decided to stay," Tina replies. "So, I think you should be the one answering your own question."

"Fine." Newt says in defeat. He was enjoying the banter they had going but if he was going to play coy for much longer, he won't be able to get back to work and might lose the only job he has as of the moment. "I woke up later than usual today and as much as I love this coffee shop, I need my job more. So, I skipped out on you too. I was actually hoping to run into you right now to apologize for skipping out on our morning routine. I know you're new here and don't have very many wizard friends and I found it a shame to just leave you waiting at a coffee shop. And lo and behold, I did run into you, at the same coffee shop I find out not only I skipped out on this morning, but the one you did too."

Both Newt and Tina laugh at the thought that they both felt guilty for skipping out on the other earlier that morning and that they both ended up in the same coffee shop at the same time later that day.

"I'm sorry about skipping out on you too, even though I really didn't because you weren't here either," Tina says, still chuckling at the coincidence. "It was my first day at the ministry today and I, like you, woke up a little later than usual, so I had to forgo all the morning coffee routines and just drink out of my travelling mug. But I guess this makes up for it."

Tina holds up her coffee cup, just as Newt moves to bump his own with hers. They both took a sip from their cups and placed them back on the table once they were done. Tina takes a few bites off of her ham and cheese roll when Newt says, "You work at the ministry?"

"Yes," Tina replies as she was wiping a few crumbs off her mouth. "I started today at the Department of Magical Law Enforcemen. Say Newt, how are you related to Theseus Scamander? He's the head of the department and my boss and all I could think of all morning in between reading stacks of reports was how you both were related."

"He's my brother," Newt replied simply.

"Your brother?!" Tina exclaims in shock. "And you didn't think to mention that to me?"

"To be fair, you haven't mentioned anything aside from your love of coffee in our morning routines." Newt replied, so very calm it was unnerving Tina. "I wouldn't even know you worked at the same place I do if you hadn't mentioned it today."

"You work at the ministry too?" Tina asks, a little stunned that she knew little to no information about this wizard she already considered a friend. "How did I not know that?"

"I blame this coffee shop," Newt says honestly. "I love our morning routines here but honestly, all we ever talk about when we're here is coffee and tea and which one is better. We failed to mention anything else that is relevant about ourselves outside those two drinks."

"What should we do about it then?" Tina asks with concern. She didn't want her only friend in Britain to be relegated to the guy who loved tea so much. "We can't be friends if we don't know anything about each other."

"I say we go on a date." Newt propositions, very firmly, as if so sure of himself. He then looks at Tina, who had a startled expression on her face and clarifies, "Like a friendly date. Not a romantic date."

Newt starts to feel nervous after he realized what he just proposed. He has never been on a date before and he didn't even know if there _was_ such a thing as a date between friends. He felt so stupid for even mentioning it he started to stare at his feet as he was trying to come up with a way to not make things awkward between himself and Tina.

"I'm so-sorry," Newt stammers as he continues to think of a way to come back from this. "I didn't mean to say that I wanted to go on a date with you or anything. I like you, as a friend, nothing more. I swear. I just think it would be a good idea to get out of this place and get to know each other somewhere else."

Newt then moves to raise his head, a look of hope on his face, as he turns to Tina to see what she thinks of the gobbledygook he just said. Surprisingly, Tina wasn't fazed at all. She had a determined look on her face, as if trying to think of the consequences of agreeing to go on a date with him.

"Are you serious?!" she says a few minutes later as she has finally finished contemplating on what her friend just said. "You're asking me to go out with you, as a friend I might add, in a place I obviously just moved to? I don't know half of London, Newt! What if I get lost trying to meet you wherever you're taking me?"

"I wouldn't let you get lost, Tina," He says sincerely. "I know you don't know London as well as I do, and I promise to pick you up before our date and drop you off after, just like a good old friend would."

Newt smiles tentatively at Tina and waits for her to smile back. She does so a few seconds later. "So, what do you say Miss Goldstein? Would you go out on a friendly date with me so that we may get to know each other?"

The hint of playfulness between the two of them was back and Tina felt like playing along this time, to lighten the mood and forget about the awkward moment they had earlier when Newt asked her out on a date. "Why Mr. Scamander, I thought you'd never ask."

Newt offers his hand to her, waiting for her to put her own in it so he place a fake kiss on it. She does so a few seconds after and he presses a feather light kiss on her hand. They both laugh at their antics and smile, glad that they are back on the same page.

"Just to be clear Newt," Tina says a few minutes later. "This is just a friendly, getting-to-know-each-other date. Nothing more, ok?"

"Of course, Tina, I promise you that is all that it'll be."

Tina goes back and finishes her ham and cheese roll and chugs down the last of her coffee. "So, where are you taking me?"

"You'll have to show up to find out." Newt replies smugly, raising is coffee cup to his mouth and taking a last sip of the lukewarm liquid inside it.

"And if I get lost trying to find this place and "show up"?"

"You won't, I'll be picking you up at your place," Newt says matter-of-factly. "If only I knew where the damn place was."

They both chuckle as Tina grabs a spare napkin on the table and very subtly with her wand draws a map to her place from the coffee shop. She hands the napkin map to Newt and points at the large 'X' on it. "There, that's where I live. Just buzz on door 8 and I'll be right down."

"As the lady wishes," Newt says, making a fake bow with his head. "is Friday night okay for you?"

"Yes," Tina confirms immediately, not even sure if it is. She'll have to clear that up with Theseus when she gets back since he hasn't assigned her yet to any of the jobs he had stacked on her table. "If things change I guess I'll send an owl to find you."

"That would be splendid," Newt says. "And as much as I would love to stay and chat with you Miss Goldstein, my job awaits. I guess I'll be seeing you around the ministry. Our departments may not be on the same level but I'm sure we'll run into each other at some point."

Newt stands from where he was sitting and edges closer to the entrance of the coffee shop. He faces Tina and raises his hand to wave goodbye. "I'll be seeing you around then, Tina. Have a nice day. I hope my brother doesn't wear you off on your first week."

Newt turns and starts to walk towards the entrance when Tina jogs after him, calling his name. "Newt!"

Newt turns to find her jogging in his direction. She reaches him and places a hand on his arm for leverage. "You never mentioned what department of the ministry you worked in. How am I supposed to "run into you" if I don't know where you work specifically?"

Newt smiles sheepishly, a little hint of red finding its way towards his face. "I work for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Beasts division specifically."

"Ok then," Tina says casually letting go of his arm. "Have a great day at work. I'll see you around."

"I'll see you around." Newt says finally as he turns to the door and exits the muggle coffee shop, with Tina watching him go until he was nowhere in sight.

* * *

A/N: sorry this took so long, it's so hard to update without an actual computer at home. but here you go, i'm continuing this story no matter what, i just hope everyone will be patient with the updates. thank you so much for the reviews and words of encouragement in the previous chapter, they kept me going. this is unbetaed so any mistakes are mine, i'll try to read through it again and edit the mistakes if i can. enjoy and let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3: The Friendly Date

A/N: I sincerely apologize for keeping everyone waiting with an update. I promised I'll finish this story and I intend to keep that promise. So here is another installment of my coffee shop AU. Let me know what you think in the reviews. I really love your input. Thank you so much for continuing to read this story. Without further ado, here's the next chapter.

* * *

It's been two days since Newt has asked Tina out on a friendly date so that they could get to know each other more outside that muggle coffee shop. He was in his room at the Scamander estate, where he stayed in on weekends when he decides to visit his parents. His old bedroom remained the same with a four poster bed at close to the window and a study desk for him to do his work. His older brother, Theseus, still lived with his parents and it was a wonder to him why Theseus still does, considering he was a very popular auror with high pay. Newt never took the time to ask because he generally didn't care what his brother did with his earnings from the ministry.

Newt turns back to his open notebook where he usually wrote notes about his research on magical creatures for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He ran his fingers over the page that he had opened where he had written ideas of where to take Tina for their upcoming date. For someone who grew up in London, he had no idea where he was going to take her! He listed both wizarding and non-wizarding locations and he still hasn't come up with a final location.

"Oh bugger!" he exclaims in frustration. "I can't believe I have to ask Theseus where to take Tina."

Newt gets up from his desk and throws himself on his bed as he buries himself further into the fortress of pillows and blankets he had made for himself.

 _He's going to nag me for days._ Newt thought to himself. _He wouldn't be able to help himself, he'll have to know who I'm taking. It won't matter if it's just an outing with a friend._

"Arghhhh!" Newt screams into his pillow in frustration.

"Now what has gotten your knickers in a twist, little brother?"

 _Of course._ Newt thought to himself. _Speak of the devil and he doth appear._

Newt rolls over and fixes a glare at his big brother before he says, "None of your bloody business."

"Okay," Theseus says, hands in the air as if to admit surrender. "I was just concerned is all."

"You're never concerned about anything that doesn't affect you directly," Newt mutters bitterly to himself as Theseus strides past his door, not hearing what Newt said.

It was then that realization dawns on Newt that he did have something to ask Theseus, so he gets off his bed and runs after his big brother. "Theseus!"

"Yes?" Theseus replies coyly, turning to face Newt. "I seem to remember being told to 'mind my own bloody business.'"

"Yes, please, do mind your own business big brother," Newt continues. "But I have something to ask you and it's important."

"Oooohhh, what could be so important that little Newty has to ask me for help?" Theseus taunts. "How I'd relish this."

"Save your gloating for later, you're going to need it after I ask you what I'm about to ask you."

Theseus raised his eyebrows at Newt, crossed his arms and waited patiently for his little brother to say what he had to say. This made Newt uncomfortable, he felt like he was being scrutinized which made him bow his head and stare at his own feet.

"Well?" Came Theseus' condescending tone a few awkward minutes later.

"Oh, right, yes," Newt stammers nervously, all his courage gone from his body as he fidgets with his two hands still staring at the floor, trying to figure out a way to ask Theseus his question that would get him the least amount of taunting and teasing.

"I was wondering if you know of any good places where I can take someone out," Newt finally says nervously, his head still down. "You know to get to know them and stuff?"

"Like on a date?" Replied Theseus, his interest peaked and a hint of excitement in his voice.

"On a _friendly_ date, yes," Newt emphasizes as he raises his head to make eye contact with his brother, his courage slowly creeping back in.

"Oh this day just keeps getting better and better!" Theseus exclaims, clapping his hands together in excitement. "Little Newty finally found a girl he like as much as he liked Let-

"Don't say her name," Newt says stiffly, his anger beginning to rise and regret that he even went through with asking Theseus for help creeping in. "And as I said, it's a _friendly date_ , I just want to get to know a friend. Is that too impossible to believe?"

"Well little brother, if it's just a friendly date as you say it is, why is it such a big deal where you're taking this lady friend of yours?" Theseus inquires smugly, obviously knowing what he was talking about. "You could just simply take her to Fontescue's Ice Cream Parlor at Diagon Alley and call it a day."

Newt considered his big brother for a moment. He had a point. If this was just a friendly outing, why would he need to take Tina somewhere fancy when he could take her somewhere simple and comfortable. It wasn't like he was trying to impress her or anything.

 _Am I trying to impress Tina?_ Newt asks himself as a lot of thoughts race through his brain. _I hate to say this, but Theseus does have a point._

"She's new to London," Newt answers defensively, relieved that he had found an excuse as to why he was trying to impress Tina. "I just want to show her the best places here. Just being a good Brit and showcasing London."

"Keep telling yourself that, Newton," Theseus replies nonchalantly.

"So? Are you going to help me or not?"

"Uhhh, let me think..." Theseus replies, raising his head in the air, feigning deep thought. "No little brother. I stick by what I just said. Take her somewhere simple first. If what you're saying is true, and that she is "just a friend", then take her to Fontescue's. But if my suspicions are right and you _do_ like this girl, taking her to Fontescue's would be a good way to start too. It's good to start things simple. Not too much pressure on this _thing_ you're just starting with her."

Theseus then inches closer to Newt and claps his shoulder before he walked in the opposite direction, oblivious to the fact that he had left his little brother dumbfounded as he went.

Newt continued to stare at the empty corridor where his big brother had just given him unwarranted dating advice.

"Thanks for nothing, big brother," Newt mutters as he walks back to his room and slumps back into his bed, facedown, as he starts dreading the idea of actually going on this date with Tina because he has nowhere amazing to take her.

* * *

Tina tried so hard not to think about her upcoming date ("friendly date", she kept reminding herself) with Newt. But if she was being completely honest with herself, it was all she thought about all week. It didn't help that her boss was said friend's older brother. Tina was thankful that throughout the week she didn't run into Theseus or got called into his office or she wouldn't have been able to look the guy in the eyes.

 _Do you think he knows?_ Tina finds herself asking one day as she was sorting through the files on her desk. _I mean, he_ is _Newt's brother. Do they talk about things like this? What kind of relationship do they have? Are they close? What are their parents like? Mercy Lewis, Porpentina Goldstein get a hold of yourself. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?_

It was a good thing for Tina that none of the lead aurors had called on her to join their task forces on the cases she has read one because she was sure that she wouldn't be able to perform well to the best of her capabilities. And if anything annoys Tina Goldstein more than people who break rules, it's people who are sloppy and don't live up to the best of their ability.

"Hey Goldstein," calls a tall, dark man whose last name Tina remembered was Shacklebolt. He was the lead auror for the case of potion smugglers. "Any plans for the weekend? It looks like you have a free one. Unlike some of us."

"Uhhhhh..."

"Oh, I'm sorry. That was rude of me," Shacklebolt says immediately when he realizes that he just asked the newbie about her plans without even introducing himself first. "I'm Thomas Shacklebolt. Everybody calls me Shacklebolt here at work, but outside the ministry some might get away with calling me Tom or Tommy."

"Tina Goldstein," Tina replies, offering her hand for him to shake, which he took willingly with a nod. "Nice to meet you Mr. Shacklebolt. I read your case file, how's it been going with them potion smugglers?"

"Not good Goldstein," Shacklebolt replies, pulling up a chair from one of the empty cubicles surrounding Tina's own cubicle and taking a seat. "Is it ok if I call you Goldstein? We aurors kind of call each other by our last names here at work."

"Sure." Tina replies timidly with a nod.

"Like I said, it isn't good," Shacklebolt continues. "We still haven't found out who has been facilitating the smuggling and we're low on manpower with the amount of cases the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has right now. You know what? I could really use a gal like you on my case. Scamander has just informed all of us lead aurors that you can do field work now. So, what do you say? You up for it?"

"Yes, sir, of course sir!" Tina says excitedly nodding her head. "It would be good to be back on the field."

"Ok, good, welcome to the team then!" Shacklebolt says as he starts shaking Tina's hand. "You have plans for the weekend I assume? So, let's just say you start Monday?"

"Of course, sir, Monday's great."

"Very well, Goldstein, don't get too excited, or people will think it's your first time being in the field," he replies with a smile. "It isn't your first time in the field, is it?"

"No, sir," Tina shakes her head in reply. "I've been in the field for MACUSA before I left the US, but that was a while back, that's probably why I'm this excited to be back out there."

"Oh, makes sense," he replies with a nod. "Why did you leave MACUSA?"

This question made Tina feel a little uncomfortable, which was obvious the moment she lowered her head and started fidgeting with her fingers. Shacklebolt notices this and counters, "Sorry, I think that's a question for another time. I bet you have other plans for your last free weekend."

Thomas stands up from the seat he has taken in front of Tina's cubicle and pushes the chair back to the empty cubicle he took it from. "It was nice meeting you Goldstein."

"Likewise, sir," Tina replies simply with a nod as she watches Shacklebolt start to walk away.

Shacklebolt seemed to realize he had forgotten something and turned back to Tina. "Oh, and Goldstein, please drop the 'sir' and just call me Shacklebolt. We're on the same case now, and I may be lead auror but that doesn't mean I am above anyone on the team. Have a great weekend."

With that, Thomas Shacklebolt turns around and walks off to the elevator and disappeared. Tina turns back to her desk to go back to sorting her papers that it escaped her notice that Shacklebolt said, "Oh, Newt my man! Come to see big brother I see. I hope you two have a productive chat. Well, I'm off, duty calls."

Shacklebolt left Newt at the entrance of the elevators dumbfounded by the surprise encounter. He wasn't able to confirm or deny whatever Shacklebolt was saying but right now that didn't matter to Newt, he was here to pick up Tina. So, Newt turns from the elevator and starts to walk into the department with much familiarity and weaves through the number of cubicles in there until he found the gold plate with Tina's name on it.

Newt approaches Tina's cubicle with feather light steps it escaped Tina's notice and tapped the sides of the cubicle. "Knock, knock."

"Newt!" Tina exclaims in a panic, dropping some of the case files she was sorting prior. "I thought you were picking me up at my place tonight?"

"Well, I know I said that when I proposed we do this, but I just wanted to see if you'd want to push this thing to an earlier time?" Newt says nervously, obviously not wanting to say the word 'date' and also because he hated that he might have messed up Tina's Friday schedule. "I mean, we don't have to, but if you aren't busy and I'm not bothering you or anything."

Newt sneaks a peek at Tina's desk and sees that she was stacking auror files and spots some of the files she dropped on the floor because of the shock of seeing him in her cubicle earlier than planned and it dawned on him that he was, in fact, bothering her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you _were_ doing something," Newt says. "I'm sorry, I'll go then, let you get back to stacking those files. I'll be back at seven."

Newt stands and starts to walk back towards the elevator he just walked out from minutes ago when Tina calls after him. "Newt!"

Newt turns back and faces Tina who had her hands up and fingers gesturing for him to come back. He walks back to her sheepishly and waits for what she was about to say.

"Don't worry," she says as he was approaching her. "I was only stacking files. And to be honest I would love to get out of her earlier than we planned. Stacking auror files isn't fun, as you can see."

Tina motions to her table to show Newt the amount of paperwork she had in fact been stacking the entire week and turns back to him and chuckles nervously. "Let me just get my coat and we can go. That sound good?"

"That sounds good." Newt replies with an awkward smile, a smile which earned a warm smile from Tina.

Once Tina was all coated up, she and Newt exited the Ministry of Magic through the visitor's entrance, much to Newt's surprise.

"You do know you could have your flat connected to the floo network, right?" Newt says as they round the corner. "So you don't have to use this entrance anymore. You're a ministry employee for crying out loud!"

"I am and I see a lot of ministry employees use the entrance everyday!" Tina says defensively. "I just don't like using the floo network. I prefer apparating."

"You're not serious." Newt says, staring incredulously at Tina.

Tina stares back at him with much determination which made Newt realize that she was.

"So, have you ever been to Diagon Alley before?" Newt inquires, dropping the transportation talk.

Tina shakes her head at him. "Nope. I mean I've heard of the place back when I lived in the US but I've never been since I moved here."

Dumbfounded by the recent information he has collected about his friend, Newt continued to stare incredulously at Tina, unable to believe that someone whose line of work was defending the wizarding community barely knew anything about the wizarding community in the UK.

"C'mon," Newt says, offering out his hand to Tina. "You have a lot to learn about the wizarding community here in the UK. Lucky for you, you ran into me at that coffee shop or else you would probably be clueless."

Tina rolls her eyes at Newt before she takes his hand, readying herself for the uncomfortable sensation of side-along apparition. As soon as their fingers touched a warmth started to spread through both their hands that radiated onto their bodies. They were both looked at each other for a split second before Newt looked away and cleared his throat. With all the concentration he could muster, he imagined the Leaky Cauldron and apparated both Tina and himself to its entrance.

Still not letting go of Tina's hand, Newt starts to lead her into the pub and nods at the barkeeper and his young son Tom. Newt greets a few of the regulars inside the bar briefly but chose not to introduce Tina to any of them. This didn't bother Tina because she really didn't fancy explaining to all of them how she knows Newt. They weaved their way to the back of the pub where Newt opened up a door that lead to a red brick wall.

"So this it? This is Diagon Alley? Wow it's as beautiful as I imagined it to be!" Tina says sarcastically behind Newt, one of her eyebrows raised at him as she loosens her grip on Newt to cross her arms over her chest.

"Oh come off it," Newt replies, shaking his head at his friend, a little disappointed of the lost contact between the two of them. "You haven't seen anything yet."

Newt then turns to face the red brick wall and taps it three times with his wand. The wall unfurls to reveal the most magnificent street full of thousands of amazing wizarding stores. Newt pockets his wand and turns to face Tina, a smug look on his face.

Tina was awestruck by the sight that met her, she barely even had time to look at Newt cross his arms over his chest smugly. "Wow."

"I told you that you haven't seen anything yet," Newt says matter-of-factly. "Well Miss Goldstein, would you do me the honor of having me show you around Diagon Alley for the first time?"

"So that's your idea of a friendly date? A Diagon Alley tour?" Tina asks raising her eyebrows at Newt. "What would you have done if I actually had been here before?"

"Who said that I was taking you on a tour of Diagon Alley?" Newt countered, the smug expression his face never waving. "I surely didn't."

"Well, then where are you taking me then?" Tina inquires, curiosity taking the better of her.

"You'll have to wait and see, I guess," Newt replies. "Before I do take you where I planned to take you, I'll let you admire the view that is Diagon Alley first."

Newt then smiles at Tina and gestures towards the alley. "C'mon then. After you Miss Goldstein."

"Stop calling me Miss Goldstein or I'll think we're on a real date."

Newt fell silent at Tina's words and he followed her as she started surveying the shops along the alley. Tina was busy inspecting the shops and admiring the view of Diagon Alley that she was unaware that while she was doing so, Newt was observing and admiring her awe. They continued to walk down the alley while Tina continued to admire and take mental notes of shops they passed by along the way to the mysterious place Newt was taking her.

Finally, after a little walking, Newt came to a halt and took hold of Tina, signaling her to stop as well.

"What?" Tina says a little confused. "Why are we stopping? There seems to be more of Diagon Alley left to explore!"

"Yes, Tina, there is more of Diagon Alley," Newt replies as he looks to his right and points at the quaint, little ice cream shop situated there. "But we're here."

Tina turns to face where Newt was pointing and admires the shop. Just like every other shop in Diagon Alley, Fontescue's Ice Cream Parlor was as magnificent as it comes. The outside was lined with a few tables that had umbrellas propped up to prevent rain from getting its customers wet. There were tables inside as well and what looked like a mini ice cream truck where Tina supposed the ice cream was placed. This place actually reminded her of the muggle coffee shop she and Newt met in, but instead of beverages and breakfast food, it sold ice cream.

"An ice cream shop?" Tina asks nonchalantly.

"Not just any ice cream shop, Tina," Newt replies coolly. "But the best _wizarding_ ice cream shop in all of London. It has been in the alley for ages and has been passed down from generations of Fontescue's. There's no one out there like this one, not even in America I would bet."

Tina shakes her head at Newt and how proud he was of this place. An image of Newt as child jumping up and down excitedly in front of his shop as Mr. Fontescue handed him a cone flashed through Tina's mind and it made her smile. This place must have meant a lot to young witches and wizards here in the UK and Tina is glad that Newt thought to take her there. It was simple and indeed just the place for a friendly date like they planned.

"I like it." Tina says simply as she holds out her hand for Newt, waiting for him to take it. "C'mon, let's go get some ice cream."

Newt takes her hand almost immediately and grins at her as they pushed through the entrance of the ice cream parlor.

"What might you two be having on this fine day?" greeted Mr. Fontescue as he was giving two young children a cone each of light brown ice cream.

"Uhm..." Tina says as she was looking at the gallons and gallons of different flavors of ice cream. Newt continued to stare at Tina as her face screwed up I concentration trying to find exactly which flavor she was going to get. Newt was fascinated by the deep concentration Tina had, even with such a simple task as choosing an ice cream flavor. He already knew what he was going to get so he continued to observe his friend who a few minutes later, threw her hands up in the air in defeat and looked back up at Mr. Fontescue and said, "Surprise me."

"Okay, then," Mr. Fontescue replied with surprise. "You've got a good one here, Newt. And American no less! Where'd you two meet?"

"Oh, no no, Mr. Fontescue," Newt stammers immediately, not wanting Mr. Fontescue thinking that he and Tina were something more than friends. "Tina's just a friend. We bumped into each other at a muggle coffee shop in her neighborhood. She's new to London and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't show her around?"

"Good man." Mr. Fontescue replied, fighting the urge to pat Newt on the shoulders. He hands out the cone he was scooping with the same light brown ice cream he gave those two little children earlier. "Here Miss. This is our bestseller, butterbeer ice cream. Not sure if you have butterbeer across the pond, but in any case, you must try this flavor."

Tina gives Mr. Fontescue a respectful nod and smiles at him as she accepts the ice cream cone he was holding out for her. "Thank you."

Both Tina and Mr. Fontescue turned to Newt and Mr. Fontescue asked, "How about you my dear boy? The usual, I presume?"

Newt smiles weakly and nods timidly and the smiling Mr. Fontescue, who moved to scoop up some of his usual onto a paper cup. Newt then turns to look at Tina who had her eyebrows raised yet again.

"The usual?"

"If I tell you what it is you're going to laugh at me," Newt replies a little ashamed.

Tina was about to say something but before she got the chance, Mr. Fontescue held out the paper cup to Newt and said merrily, "Earl Grey and Lavender with chocolate chip toppings."

Mr. Fontescue then turned to Tina and said, "Always the same order since he was a young lad."

They both chuckle as Newt takes his cup from Mr. Fontescue, his face slightly red. Newt then rummages inside his pocket and takes out three sickles and pays for their ice creams. Both Newt and Tina gave Mr. Fontescue a nod of farewell as they pushed the front door open. Newt inches towards one of the tables outside and moves to take a seat when Tina said, "You know what? How about we walk instead? I'd really love to see more of Diagon Alley. If that's ok with you, that is."

"Sure, that's fine by me," Newt replies and starts to move away from the table he was almost seated in and inches closer to Tina and gestures down the alley. "Let's go then."

They start to stroll, Tina licking her butterbeer ice cream off her waffle cone and Newt shoving small portions of his earl grey and lavender ice cream into his mouth. Neither of them said anything at first until Tina cleared her throat and said, "So, am I allowed to say anything about your choice of ice cream flavor or...?"

Newt looks at her, plasters a smug grin on his face and replies, "Not a word."

"Ok, then," she counters, taking a bite off of her waffle cone. "So, you told me before that you worked for the beasts division."

"That's right," Newt confirms with a nod before taking another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, turning to look at Tina as he felt a question coming.

"What is it exactly you guys do down there?" she asks, following up her statement before. "I mean, I get that you regulate and control magical creatures, that much can be made out from your department's name, but seeing as we don't really have much knowledge on magical creatures, how do you all do your work?"

"Well, you see, there's not really much of us in the department yet," Newt replies, taking one last bite of his ice cream before throwing the cup that held it in a rubbish bin they passed nearby. "I can say that there are only five of us so far and most of what we do is research. Well, most of what _I_ do. My colleagues work more on registering magical creatures that witches and wizards find here in Britain and I do the legwork and observe them."

Now everything that she saw during her first meeting with Newt made sense. All those drawings in his notebook, they were of magical creatures that he was researching about. Tina stares at Newt, unable to grasp what Newt has just told her. Newt sees this and is quick to make her understand. "You said it yourself, how do we control these creatures if we know nothing about them? The ministry has allowed me to do research on said magical creatures when I started working for them, instead of just registering them like what my colleagues do."

"That's really nice Newt," Tina says with a smile, finally understanding what he did for a living. "And you look like you really enjoy what you're doing."

"I do actually," Newt replies proudly. "We have so much more to learn about these creatures and who knows, these new creatures might be useful to us one of these days."

Tina smiles at Newt and nods in agreement. She turns to admire the shops they were passing by as they strolled and chewed her waffle cone merrily. Every now and again, Newt would point out some shop they were walking past and talk about what magical items Tina could buy there. Tina's particular favorite was one shop that sold brooms and quidditch supplies that she insisted going inside.

"So, I take it you're a quidditch fan?" Newt asks as they enter the shop with Tina leading right in front of him.

"I've never admitted it to anyone," Tina replies honestly as she brushes her fingers against brooms and quidditch robes. "but I am a huge quidditch fan."

"Why have you never admitted it to anyone?"

"Mostly because quidditch was illegal for a time in the US," Tina replied as she delved further into the shop towards a bookstand that was holding different titles of quidditch teams and events through history.

She reaches the shelf and turns to find Newt giving her a puzzled look, so she decided to explain further by saying, "You see after the Salem Witch trials, American witches and wizards did everything to prevent the discovery of magic or the existence of any more of us. We wanted the No-Majs to believe that they eliminated all of us. We all went into hiding, regrouped. Which also meant banning a lot of magical stuff that could easily get us noticed."

"Like quidditch," Newt added in, finally understanding why the most amazing game in the world had been banned.

"It got unbanned a few decades later but because American witches and wizards had those years of not having quidditch in our lives, its popularity kind of waned. A handful of people still loved and followed the sport but it's not the same as here in Europe."

Newt nodded again as his attention was caught by a flying quidditch toy zooming around his head. He swatted at it like it was a fly and followed Tina as she moved on to look at some robes.

"Did you ever play back when you're in school?" Newt asked as Tina was rummaging through robes of famous European quidditch teams.

"What do you think?" Tina replies coyly as she turns back to face Newt, raising her eyebrows at him before she inches past him and towards the door.

"I bet you made one hell of a quidditch player," Newt comments with a confident smile, following his date out of the shop they just stepped into.

"Yeah, I was," Tina replies with a sad sigh as soon as they were out of the shop.

"Then why didn't you become a professional quidditch player?" Newt asks again as soon as he caught up with Tina, looking her eagerly in the eye.

"I didn't really have a say in the matter," she answers sadly, her eyes falling to the floor.

Sadness took over Newt as soon as he saw how sad it made Tina to think that she never got the chance to do what she loved doing. He moves to grab one of her hands and squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm sorry."

Tina smiles thankfully at her friend and squeezes back. "Thanks. It's not a complete loss after all. I also wanted to be an auror. It was sort of my plan B if the whole professional quidditch player didn't pan out."

Tina chuckles, which made Newt chuckle as well. She pulls on the arm that was intertwined with her own and urged him deeper and deeper into Diagon Alley. They continued to walk the alley, their hands linked with Newt continuing to tell Tina about each and every shop they passed by.

By the time they reached the end of the alley, Tina more knowledgeable about magical shops she would be able to buy stuff in, their stomachs grumbled angrily. They laughed at that and decided that they should put some proper food in them. They walked hand-in-hand to the Leaky Cauldron, agreeing that it was the most sensible place to eat dinner.

At dinner, it was Tina's turn to ask Newt some personal questions since she didn't have the chance to, what with him blabbering on and on about the shops they walked past.

"So, how about you?" Tina asks from where she was sitting opposite Newt. "Did you always want to work with magical creatures?"

Newt looks up from his soup and nods. "My mom was a hippogriff breeder and I always spent time with her feeding them when I was young."

"I've only ever seen a hippogriff once," Tina admitted out of the blue. "Never really had the chance to interact with magical creatures."

"Let me guess, because of the Salem Witch trials?"

"Right you are, Mr. Scamander," Tina replies playfully. "magical creatures were kept in sanctuaries that were unplottable and they forbid the breeding and transportation of these creatures across the country. We only got a handful of chances to study them in person. Our knowledge on magical creatures was limited and mostly just theoretical."

"It was the same for us at Hogwarts," Newt admits as he finally takes the last sip of his soup. "We got to do some more hands on with the creatures but only if our professor could hunt some down for the whole class. I actually envy Hogwarts students these days since there have been more and more magical creatures in Europe that have been discovered, studied and tamed."

"And I would guess that some of this is thanks to you?" Tina says from her side of the table as she played with her pasta.

Newt blushed as soon as Tina said that. It's true that Newt's work with the ministry had helped in the discovery of more knowledge of the magical creatures he had only heard about when he was in school. But he wasn't the type of person to boast about his achievements.

"Well, uhm," Newt stammers, blinking so hard as he tried to find the right reply. "thanks to the ministry and the department, I guess."

"Oh come on, Newt," Tina says finally deciding she was full and putting her fork down. "You said it yourself. You're the only person in that department that even does the research. The rest of your colleagues just register magical creatures. You actually study them."

Newt finally looks up at Tina and sees admiration all over her face, which made him blush even harder. He tries to deny it even more, but she reaches out one of her hands and takes one of his.

"It's not bragging if you take credit for something you did," Tina says with a smile. "especially something this useful."

Newt smiles back at her, thankful for what Tina just said.

"C'mon, we need to go," Tina says a few seconds later as she stands up. "it's getting late."

Newt nods in agreement and stands from where he was sitting. They exited the Leaky Cauldron from where they entered and walked to a corner of the street that wasn't visible to muggles. Tina turns to Newt and was about to thank him for the wonderful evening when he said, "I should really make sure you arrive home safely. I promised after all."

Tina smiles thankfully at Newt, remembering the promise he made when he asked her out on this friendly date.

 _"I wouldn't let you get lost, Tina. I know you don't know London as well as I do, and I promise to pick you up before our date and drop you off after, just like a good old friend would."_

His words were as fresh to her memory as the pasta she just had for dinner.

Newt offers Tina his hand, waiting for her to take it. But instead of doing so, Tina crossed her arms against her chest and looked at Newt with her eyebrows raised.

"Do you really think I can't get myself home safely?" Tina asks. "You do know I'm an auror right?"

"Yes, I do know that, Miss Goldstein," Newt replies matter-of-factly, his hand still offered to her. "But you are new to London, you might get lost. I wouldn't want that on my conscience. And there's the little thing about me promising to pick you up and take you home afterwards so."

Newt chuckles as he finishes his sentence which resulted in Tina shoving him playfully, which turned Newt's chuckle into a full blown laugh. He offers his hand out to her again and this time she took it, knowing full well that Newt was doing this because he just wanted to make sure she was safe and not because he thought she couldn't handle herself.

They apparated right into a dark corner of the street across the muggle coffee shop they first met. Tina let's go of Newt's hand and they share a look of understanding. They walk side by side towards Tina's apartment.

"So, you do live really close to the coffee shop," Newt comments as soon as they reached the front door of Tina's building. "I wasn't really sure. The map you drew on that table napkin was really confusing."

Tina laughs at Newt's comment and rolls her eyes at him playfully. "Ha ha, very funny."

"Listen, Newt, I really had a great time tonight," Tina says seriously for the first time since they met. "I didn't really know what to expect, I was actually kind of nervous before but I'm happy we did this."

"I'm happy we did this, too," Newt replies almost immediately, smiling at Tina with his hands inside his coat pocket. "we should do it again sometime."

"I'd like that," Tina says with a shy smile, a glint in her eyes.

Newt smiled one last time before saying, "Don't hesitate to send me an owl if you need any help, okay? I'm your friend now. And friends help each other out."

Tina nods eagerly at Newt. He stepped forward and for a moment Tina's world stopped. She knew how dates usually ended. And to be honest, she was dreading the end of this one because of that.

"I'm not really sure how friendly dates end," Newt says out of the blue, breaking Tina from her reverie. "but let's just say they end with hugs, shall we?"

Tina lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding, relieved that Newt wasn't going to end this date the way dates are normally ended. She nods at him and meets him halfway for a brief hug. They held each other for only a brief moment but they both had to admit it felt quite good. Only a few seconds later they broke the hug and gave each other one last smile.

Newt turns around and walks back to the corner where they arrived and Tina walks towards the door of her building. They both catch a final glance at each other and gave each other a smile. Newt then apparated into his own apartment while Tina walked into her building and straight up to her apartment, both happy that they decided to give this friendly date a try.


	4. Chapter 4: Coffee Week

The weekend went by swiftly for both Newt and Tina. Newt was holed up all day at his apartment trying to finalize details on the few creatures he had managed to study through the course of the week while Tina was acquainting herself with her new home. She strolled the streets of London on Saturday, trying to find new places to eat and shop. She managed to get herself lost in the most densely muggle populated area she wandered off to and had to resort to apparating into her own apartment before going back out again to familiarize herself with London.

Aside from muggle locations, Tina also decided to visit a few wizarding neighborhoods like Spinner's End and Godric's Hollow. A few witches welcomed her to their respective neighborhoods and offered to show her around, which she politely declined. She already had someone she trusted for that and the only reason why she hasn't asked him yet was because she'd rather liked discovering new places for herself.

Tina also discovered a few wizarding shops that were located outside Diagon Alley. Some were just a corner past Godric's Hollow while others, to her surprise, were located a little closer to the muggle neighborhood where she lived.

 _Gutsy these British wizards._ Tina thinks to herself as she passes by one particularly loud wizarding shop by her neighborhood that should have gotten a lot of attention from the muggles. _A shop right at the center of a muggle neighborhood? That's something you don't see in America._

She ended up asking the owners how they managed to convince the muggles living in that area that they weren't wizards and they simply answered, "We've cloaked the shop. To the muggles, it looks like an ordinary magic shop where they could get items they can use to perform magic. We get loads of young muggles come in, especially during Halloween, and we sell them some harmless stuff."

Tina looks disapprovingly at the lady at the counter. "But doesn't that violate the Statute of Secrecy?"

"Not at all, dearie," replies the lady. "you see they can't do anything with what we sell them. Fake wands made of plastic won't help them stun anyone. And we don't sell them actual potion ingredients, just ingredients that look like the real deal but are actually candy."

Tina walks around and looks at the merchandise the lady was proudly advertising and finally realized that they were all indeed fake.

"We keep the real stuff in the back," the lady says, pointing at the door behind the counter as Tina continues to take a tour of the place. "we don't get a lot of witches and wizards around here seeing as it's a muggle neighborhood. But business is good with these muggles and sometimes we get a witch or two, ones who live near, much like you, dearie."

"I understand," Tina replies as she finishes her tour of the place. "well then, lucky me. Won't have to go as far as Diagon Alley to get supplies if I need them."

The witch nods in agreement before thanking Tina for her visit as she was exiting the store. She surveys more of the wizarding shops in the area before she called it a day and went home.

On Sunday, Tina continued to venture in deeper into the wizarding community in London by visiting carefully hidden wizarding neighborhoods she read about during the past week at work. A lot of the locations that were on the auror files she read also had maps to the neighborhoods where crimes were plenty and Tina located them easily through memory.

She scoped the areas she visited with skill, taking in the surroundings as much as she can in case the lead aurors in her department decide to call her to duty. She kept close attention to the neighborhood where the rumors of potion smuggling were heavy since she has agreed to work on the particular case with Shacklebolt and his team.

At the end of the day, a weary but fulfilled Tina apparated back to the secluded area in her muggle neighborhood away from prying eyes, ready to head back home and rest before another week of work at the ministry started.

Before she could walk home she caught a glimpse of her favorite muggle coffee shop and decided she would stop by for a drink. She pushed the door of the shop and heard the familiar ding of the bell and headed for the counter to order some hot chamomile tea, deciding that she wanted to give the drink a try, especially since Newt was so fond of it. She regretted the decision almost immediately.

"Bleurgh," Tina complains after taking the first sip of the tea she just ordered, her face screwed up indicating her disgust. "how the hell can Newt stand this crap?"

Tina begrudgingly forces herself to drink the tea she just ordered and promises herself that she'll have Newt pay for this tomorrow morning before heading home to get a good night's sleep.

* * *

Newt wakes up a little earlier than he usually did that Monday. He decided that he would indeed be stopping by the muggle coffee shop (which is nowhere near where he lived, by the way), even though he wasn't sure Tina was going to be showing up this morning to continue their morning routine. After all, they did both break that routine the week before.

Newt apparated to the corner of the street where the coffee shop was located and inconspicuously walked towards the coffee shop. He pushed the door of the shop and unwrapped his trusted Hufflepuff scarf he was wearing to shield him from the London chill when he was greeted by a very chipper Tina.

"Hey there, stranger!" she greets very merrily from where she was sitting by the bar of the shop. "I got you something."

Tina hands Newt a tall coffee cup before taking a sip off her own. Newt grimaces at the cup as he took it from Tina, not really sure why his friend would get him a coffee knowing full well that the first time her tried it out he didn't like it.

Newt looks at Tina and gives her a look of inquiry and then eyeing the cup he just got from her.

"Oh, what's this you ask?" Tina says playfully as she stands up from where she was sitting and wraps one of her hands around Newt's arm. "That my friend is a cafe mocha."

"And why is it in my hand and not in yours like it should be?" Newt asks, still confused as to where Tina was going with this.

"Well, yesterday I was wandering the city, familiarizing myself with my new home when I decided to stop by here after to taste your pesky drink," Tina explains comically, pointing at the image at the counter of the drink she ordered the day before. She turns back to Newt and points at the cup and says, "this is payback for that horrible experience."

"Hey, I didn't tell you to drink that tea," Newt says defensively, shoving back the coffee cup to Tina. "it's not my fault that you did."

"That may be the case," Tina admits before holding out her hand and pushing the cup back into Newt's hands. "but it reminded me of that afternoon where _you_ got yourself a coffee because you wanted to know why I liked it so much."

Newt eyes Tina curiously, still unsure what she was getting at. "That particular experience didn't really change my opinion of _your_ favorite drink, Tina. But how is this," he gestures to the tall coffee cup he was holding, "relevant to all of _that_?"

"It just got me thinking," Tina says. "maybe we should both give each other a week to convince the other that coffee, or tea in your case, is the best drink."

"And you really think that's gonna work?" Newt asks doubtfully as he took a sip of the drink that Tina had ordered for him. He nodded in surprised after he swallowed the sweet hot drink.

"I think it already is," Tina replies, wiggling her eyebrows playfully at Newt, her coffee cup close to her lips.

"Oh, don't be so smug, Goldstein," Newt mutters before taking another sip. "there's chocolate in this, that's cheating right there. Who doesn't love chocolate?"

Tina raises an eyebrow at him before he relents and agrees to her plan, "Fine. Let's do this. But I promise you, after my week you _will_ agree that tea is in fact better than coffee."

"No, you'll be agreeing with me by the end of _this_ week," Tina says confidently, pointing at Newt when she says 'you'll'.

"So, you get this week and I get next week?" Newt clarifies, narrowing his eyes at Tina.

She nods in reply, which perks up Newt. He holds out his hand for her to shake and says, "Deal."

Tina takes his hand in hers and gives it one firm shake. Their eyes linger for a moment before they both took a sip from their cups, bundled up with their respective scarves and coats, and walked out of the coffee shop.

"You're evil for springing this up on me, you know," Newt says, tucking his cold hands into the pocket of his coat. "a warning would have been nice."

"How else would have I gotten you to agree to this if not by surprise?" Tina says coyly, taking a sip of her usual coffee.

"Fair point," Newt agrees before taking another sip of his drink. "Well played, Goldstein."

The two friends laugh before taking a sip of their coffees and walking their way to work. Somehow this felt like the right think to do and both of them knew that this morning routine of theirs was not going anywhere at all.

* * *

On Tuesday morning, Newt arrived at the coffee shop first and sat at the table by the window that he and Tina shared the second time they ran into each other and shared a table at the shop. He tapped his fingers against the table impatiently, waiting for Tina to show up, constantly checking his watch every now and then to make sure that neither of them would be running late. He started to doubt this morning routine of theirs and was about to leave when Tina finally shows up, out of breath from running.

"I thought we had a deal, Tina?" Newt says dramatically feigning hurt. "I get to have coffee chosen by you for breakfast for an entire week."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Tina mumbles very fast as she takes the seat opposite Newt. "I ran into a muggle outside my apartment who caught me transfiguring one of my scarves into mittens. I couldn't find the ones I usually wear today. I had to obliviate the poor man and a couple more who saw me obliviating him before I could come here."

"And here I thought aurors were discrete," Newt says jokingly as he narrowly avoids Tina's playful swat.

Tina clumsily removes her coat while she was sitting in front of Newt before she shuffles off to the counter to order their drinks and a couple of croissants for the two of them to munch on before they head to work.

"So," Newt begins as Tina places the tray containing their breakfast on the table. "what monstrosity do you have in store for me today?"

"You didn't think that mocha was monstrous yesterday," Tina begins as she took the plates containing the croissants from the tray and places them on the table while Newt grabs the two cups of coffee. "how sure are you that you're going to hate this drink this time around?"

"It's coffee," Newt scoffs in reply, taking his croissant and starting to munch it.

"What you drank yesterday was coffee too, you are aware of that, right?" Tina rebuts, arching her eyebrow at Newt.

"Just give me the damn drink already," Newt replies, playfully snatching the tall coffee cup that Tina was pushing in his direction.

Tina grabs her own cup and downs her usual like its water and watches as Newt takes a tentative sip of the cafe latte she ordered him today and gulps down the hot liquid.

"So?" Tina asks after a few minutes of no commentary from Newt.

"I liked the mocha better," he remarked as he took another sip from his cup before turning his attention to the croissant he had left.

"Chocolate?"

"Yep," Newt replies simply as he takes another sip.

The two friends laugh and munch on their croissants and before they both knew it they had to leave for work. Newt pulls the door open for Tina, which she steps through after thanking him. They were about to walk the similar path they walked the day before when they heard the familiar sound of a siren.

"What do you reckon that is?" Newt asks, peering through the crowd of muggles that was swarming the area.

"I don't know," Tina admits, buttoning up her favorite grey coat. "maybe a fire or something?"

"Tina, look," Newt says when he spots smoke a few blocks away from the coffee shop.

"What could have caused a fire this early in the day?"

"I don't know," Newt replies. "but we don't have time to wonder about that. Unless you want to lose your job."

Tina checks her watch and sees what Newt meant. As much as either of them wanted to help, they couldn't do so without losing either of their jobs. So, they reluctantly left the scene and walked towards the ministry, hoping that the muggle firefighters would be able to stop the fire and figure out what caused it.

* * *

The next morning, as Newt was about to walk out of his apartment, he heard a tap on his window. He turned and saw that it was an owl that was carrying a small letter. He rushes over to the window to retrieve the letter and opened it hastily.

 _Newt,_

 _I'm sorry but I won't be able to make the coffee shop this morning. Shacklebolt requested the members of his team to be up early, apparently there's going to be another exchange of illegal potions that's supposed to happen today. I forgot to owl you yesterday about it._

 _Don't worry, I stopped by the coffee shop yesterday and told the barista to make you your drink for the day. Just stop by, I placed the order under your name._

 _I'm really sorry._

 _Tina_

 _P.S. Don't you dare skip out today. I already paid for that drink and we had a deal, Newt Scamander. I_ _ **will**_ _know if you break it._

Newt's heart fell at the thought of not seeing Tina today. But the threat that she left him at the end of the letter made him chuckle. He didn't intend to skip out on Tina this week, even if she didn't show up herself. He made a deal with a friend and he really meant to keep it. So, he walked out of his apartment and apparated to the familiar corner he had memorized by now and stopped by the coffee shop to pick up the drink Tina had wanted him to drink for today.

"What are you having today, sir?" the muggle barista asks politely, a coffee cup in hand, ready to take his order.

"Uhm, I'm not sure, actually," Newt admits, scratching the back of his head. "A friend of mine placed an order for me yesterday, I'm just here to pick it up."

"Name?"

"Newt Scamander."

The barista shuffles off to ask her coworker if his drink was ready. The other barista points at the coffee cup that was located beside the espresso machine, which the lady serving Newt walked to and grabbed.

"Here you go, Mr. Scamander," the lady says, handing him the hot cup. "One macchiato."

"Thank you." Newt replies with a nod.

"Aren't you going to pay for that?" The barista asks as soon as Newt turns around to the exit.

Newt stops immediately, embarrassed that he assumed Tina would actually pay for the drink beforehand. He walks back to the counter, his face all red from embarrassment.

"I was just joking," the barista says with a chuckle. "it's already paid for."

Newt tucks the paper bill he had in his hand back into his pocket, his head ducked even further, shame radiating through his entire body.

"Lucky you," the barista commented one last time. "so early in the morning and you already have a lady buying you a drink."

Newt finally found the courage to look up at the barista and smile weakly, the redness on his face finally starting to subside. The barista gave him a wink before returning to the line of customers that were waiting for her to take their orders.

"Tina," Newt mutters under his breath, disbelief etched on his face as he read the writing he only just discovered on his coffee cup.

 _Sorry, I just had to ask her to do that. I just wish I was there to witness it ;)_

He chuckles before he takes a sip of the coffee, not feeling annoyed at the slightest that Tina decided to humiliate him in front of a lot of coffee addicted muggles. He then exited the coffee shop before walking the path he and Tina usually took together all by his lonesome to the ministry for another day's work.

* * *

Newt was running late, he realized that as he checked his watch. He weaved past a crowd of muggles who have come to check the embers of a dying fire finally die out. He was about to walk into the coffee shop to meet Tina, an apology for his lateness already memorized by heart, when he spotted a lady wearing the same grey coat he could only attribute to Tina. He thought twice about approaching the woman he mistook as Tina, not wanting to interrupt her as she observed the muggle firefighters trying to clear the swarm of people gossiping about the fire that happened very early in the morning. Before he could argue with himself, the lady turned around and revealed a very deep in thought Tina Goldstein, so deep in thought that she didn't even notice Newt approaching her.

"Hey there, stranger," Newt says a little less merrily than Tina did a few days ago, smiling from ear-to-ear when she turns to look up at him. "What's all the fuss about?"

"Another fire erupted early this morning," Tina replies a little concerned. "and just like the last one we've witnessed the firefighters couldn't figure out what caused it."

Newt studies Tina's face for a moment, soaking up all of the concentration and concern that was reflected in her features. He then looked up at the building just a few paces away from them and how burned down it looked. "It wasn't anything electrical then?"

"No," Tina says as she shakes her head at him, her attention still on the building and figuring out what might have caused the fire. "Well, they're not sure yet."

Newt nods and inches closer to Tina and starts concentrating as hard as she was on the building. They stood side-by-side until Newt accidentally nudging Tina very lightly.

"Oh, sorry, I almost forgot. Here." She adds, a little startled when she realizes that she was carrying two cups of coffee, one for her and one for Newt. She hands Newt the cup meant for him and says, "You get a cappuccino today."

"Thanks," Newt responds as he absentmindedly took the cup from Tina, his eyes not once straying from the burning building.

"So, what did you think of my surprise yesterday?" Tina asks out of the blue, her focus now shifted from the commotion the burning building has caused to the man in front of her. "Like it?"

"Oh, I _loved_ it," Newt replied sarcastically as he comically shifted his attention from the building to Tina. "it was really fun being humiliated in front of a hundred muggles like that."

Newt eyes Tina mischievously as he took another sip of the cappuccino she got for him this morning, a glint of playfulness in his eyes. He then moves to look at the coffee cup in his hand and announced, "You know what? I think this is probably my favorite of all the drinks you bought me this week."

"Really?" Tina blurts out in surprise, her eyebrows raised at Newt, who was now looking at her.

"Yeah," he stated with conviction. "not too sweet like the mocha and not as bitter as the crap you drink every morning."

"Hey!" Tina exclaims, swatting Newt on the shoulder, which made them both chuckle.

"You're becoming a coffee person," Tina teased smugly as she turns to face Newt, pride splashed all over her face.

Newt makes a face at Tina and then takes another sip of his coffee before he says, "Nope, still very much in love with tea, thank you very much."

"Please," Tina scoffs in reply, rolling her eyes at Newt. "You've loved the last four drinks I've gotten you this week."

"That's true," Newt admits, jerking his head in the direction of the ministry, telling Tina that it was time that they head to work. "doesn't mean I love it more than tea."

"Yeah, yeah," Tina mumbled in reply. "maybe tomorrow's drink will change your mind."

"Last chance to convince me, Goldstein," Newt echoed as they see the familiar doors to the visitors' entrance of the ministry getting closer and closer. "better make it count."

"Oh, you bet I will, Scamander," Tina promised with a narrowing of her eyes.

Newt chuckles one last time at his friend. He gives her a final wink, one she simply replied with a shake of her head, before he moves to enter the "male restroom" where the entrance to the ministry was located to another busy day of studying magical creatures.

* * *

On the last day of coffee week (as Newt now called it), both Newt and Tina arrived at the coffee shop at the exact same time.

"Good morning!" the both said in unison as they ran into each other in front of the café door.

Newt holds out his hand, indicating that Tina should lead the way, which she happily obliged to do. They unwrap the scarves around their necks, soaking in the familiar warmth of their favorite place.

"I'll go find us a seat, you – " Newt starts but was interrupted by Tina who interjected, "get our drinks? Yeah, sure."

They shared a smile before Newt turns around to find a suitable place for them to eat their breakfast while Tina rustles over to the counter and orders two black coffees.

"Can you add two sugars to one of those coffees, please?" Tina informs the barista politely.

The barista nods with a smile and writes her order down on the coffee cup and asks, "What about the other one?"

"Oh, no add-ons, please," Tina answers. "I'll just get them on the way. Let my friend decide which ones he wants in his coffee."

"Okay," the barista replied a little reluctantly, but went on to scribble on the second cup of coffee. "any pastry I can offer you and your friend?"

"I'll have a muffin," she replied before thinking hard about what to get Newt. "and I guess he'll have an Irish scone."

 _Even though I have no idea what that would taste like with coffee._ Tina adds mentally as she looked at the ceiling, trying to avoid the confused look the barista was just giving her after she ordered their pastries.

The barista nodded at Tina and told her the amount that she was meant to pay. She paid an exact amount and then proceeded to the claiming area where her and Newt's drinks and pastries were waiting. She picks up their order and searches the café for Newt. She was about to give up when she saw the figure of a tall man approach her.

"Sorry, it's crowded today. I could only find us seats at the back," Newt explained as he approached her. He took the tray from Tina, much to her protestation, and led her to one of the tables at the back of the coffee shop. He then placed all the contents of the tray on the table and turned around to offer Tina a seat when he realized that she wasn't behind him.

Newt was about to head back and look for her when she came walking behind him a few minutes later with a few additional things in hand.

"Sorry, I had to get these," she says as she gestured to the items in her hand. "for your coffee."

Tina then walks past Newt and then takes the seat that Newt meant to offer her. Newt turned to look at her, a quizzical look on his face. Tina simple nods at the chair opposite her, indicating that she would explain once he took his seat. He followed suit and sat comfortably on the chair opposite her as she was laying the items she brought with her on the table.

"Okay, so since you've basically drank the most common types of coffee this past week," Tina began excitedly, pushing the items she retrieved from the bar towards Newt. "I figured I'll let you decide what kind of blend you like best."

"And how would I know which ones I like?" Newt asked from where he was sitting, a confused look on his face. "I don't really know what was in those drinks."

"I'll give you a hint," Tina began as she leaned forward towards Newt, ready to impart some knowledge to him. "You said your favorite was the cappuccino, right?"

Newt nodded in agreement, his eyes on Tina's. "Well a cappuccino has three ingredients, one is espresso, which is already in your cup, another is milk," she pushes a thermos-like container towards Newt, indicating that it contained milk, "and the last one is foam."

"I don't see any foam on this table," Newt replies, feeling a little stupid as he searched for it on their table.

"Well no, you'll have to ask for that once you've added the rest of what you want in your coffee," Tina informs as she opens Newt's coffee cup. "So, what will it be, Newt?"

Newt looks at Tina and at the items on their table: milk and a couple of packets of brown and white sugar. He then looks at the coffee cup and then back at he, still unsure what he was going to do. Tina taps her fingers on the table while taking sips of her black coffee with two sugars, waiting for Newt to decide what kind of coffee he liked.

When he finally made up his mind, he moved to grab the milk and pour enough of it into his coffee cup. He then adds one sugar to his cup and mixes the contents of his cup before walking over to the counter to pay for extra foam. He comes back to the table, proud of the drink he just mixed for himself.

"You just made yourself a cappuccino, my friend," Tina quipped as Newt took the seat he previously occupied. "and now we know what type of coffee _you_ like."

Newt smiles admiringly at Tina, thanking her silently for the little learning experience this week's breakfast turned out to be.

"Next time you're craving for a cuppa, just order a cappuccino and have them add one sugar to it and you'll have the same drink you're having right now."

Tina chuckles from her seat before she takes a bite out of the muffin she ordered for herself as Newt continues to revel in the drink that he had finally grown to love. Newt notices the scone that was placed on his side of the table and he looked up at Tina, peering up at her as if to ask why she got him a scone for breakfast. He decided against it and instead dabbed a little marmalade over the scone and took a bite out of it before taking another sip of his coffee.

Newt's eyebrows flew up as he was surprised at how well the scone matched with the coffee. "I never thought these would taste good with coffee as well."

"You're welcome," Tina says coyly from her seat, even though a few minutes ago she didn't even know if the two would go together.

Newt chuckles lightheartedly at her and they ate their breakfast in silence for the first time since they met. Not jabs, no arguments, no banter at all. It felt weird not coming up with a clever retort to what the other was saying, but it also felt nice. The relished the company of the other person with them until Newt realizes that something was nagging him since he parted ways with Tina the day before.

"Say, Tina," Newt began when realized that he had a question to ask her. "did they ever find out what was causing all those fires this week?"

"Nope, not a clue," Tina replied, defeated that even she couldn't find a logical explanation to what was going on in her neighborhood. "I have this feeling in my gut that it has something to do with magic."

"You mean that a wizard may be causing these fires?" Newt asks in a hushed tone, pulling his chair closer to Tina to prevent the surrounding muggles from hearing their conversation.

"Yes," Tina confirms with absolute conviction. "or else they would have found the cause days ago when the first fire started."

Tina places both elbows on the table she was sharing with Newt and whispers, "It would be one thing if one of the fires was caused by faulty wiring, but no. Both fires just started with no evident cause. That can't be a coincidence."

"I see now why you're an auror," Newt mused as he finally relaxed and leaned back against his chair, taking the last sip of his coffee and munching on the last crumb of scone.

Tina scowled at Newt, a smile plastered on her mouth despite her annoyance at how Newt was taking this lightly. "I'm serious, Newt! I've actually thought about bringing this to your brother, but I need proof before I could."

"Well, it's a Saturday tomorrow," Newt starts to say, a plan starting to hatch in his brain. "maybe we could try and find some clues and proof."

"You'd do that?" Tina asked wide-eyed, surprised that he would even consider spending a supposedly free weekend doing work that wasn't exactly what he was paid to do.

"Yeah, why not?"

"No, Newt, I can't ask you to do that," Tina stammered before taking a small bite off her muffin. "it's not even in your line of work."

"So?" Newt insisted. "It's not an official case yet."

Tina looks at Newt wistfully, unsure if this was a good idea or not. He might get into trouble because of her and she didn't want that.

Newt moves from where he was sitting and places one of his hands on top of Tina's that were on the table. "Just consider it as a safety precaution with all these fires starting up out of nowhere. I'll just be the friend that was helping you out if things go way worse than we expect."

Newt smiled encouragingly at Tina. A thankful smile found its way onto Tina's lips as she nodded in agreement.

"I'll come by your apartment tomorrow," Newt states, lifting his hands off Tina's. "around nine maybe?"

"Sure," Tina confirms with a nod, to which Newt simply smiled in reply.

Newt started to get up from his chair with Tina following him. They both knew that they needed to head to work before they could start with the weekend they had just planned. They both wrapped their scarves around their necks and buttoned their coats over their clothes and exited the coffee shop the usual way, with Newt opening the door for Tina and with Tina nodding a thank you at him.

The two friends walked beside each other silently, both so absorbed with their own thoughts, their minds filled with possible magical causes of the sudden fires in Tina's neighborhood. When they reached the visitors' entrance of the ministry they said their gleeful goodbyes before going into their respective entrances that would eventually lead to the ministry and their respective departments, both of them looking forward to the weekend and to the uncovering of something mysterious.

* * *

A/N: I hope you guys liked that chapter. It's basically a filler that would hopefully push the story forward and reveal the actual storyline I had in mind when I started this. I also want to let everybody know that I am no coffee expert, so all the facts about different coffee drinks I put in this chapter were just based on research and if I got anything wrong I'm sorry. Let me know what you think in the reviews. Thanks again for continuing to read and support this story.


	5. Chapter 5: The Fire Crisis

A/N: Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is unbetaed sa if there are any mistakes they're all mine. As always, I'd love to hear what you guys think.

* * *

Newt wasn't the type of person who planned his weekends. They usually just ended up with him staying at home and trying to summarize all the new information he had gathered about the creatures he studied at work. This weekend, however, was entirely different. He had plans to uncover the mystery of the unexpected fires around his friend's neighborhood. Even just thinking about it left Newt in disbelief. He realized that he never really had a close friend after he left Hogwarts which made him even more excited about going over to Tina's that weekend.

Newt was up at the crack of dawn, even though he knew that he and Tina agreed that he would go over to her place at nine. So, to pass the time Newt went on to finalize the details about one particular creature that had been brought over and registered in their department that week by one of the ministry employees, like he did most of his weekends. He scribbled away on his notebook with much concentration, drawing down what the creature looked like from memory while adding a few notes about it.

"There," Newt mumbles in concentration after he finally managed to magic the image to look more like the creature he'd seen, biting the end of the quill he was using to take down notes. "all done. Now all that's left is to find another one of these and study them even further."

Newt glances at the clock in front of him and realizes that it was time he get ready. He closes his notebook and stalks off to the bathroom to get cleaned up before he goes and meets up with Tina. A few minutes before nine he managed to apparate into the same corner he always does when he gets morning drinks with Tina and walks over to the coffee shop to get some morning drinks. Their morning routine only happened when they had to go to work but Newt figured that since he was spending the day with her maybe the routine would carry on.

Newt walks up to the counter and orders Tina's favorite coffee drink while getting himself some green tea, finally happy that he gets to drink _his_ favorite drink. He opts to buy himself a scone and gets Tina a croissant since she almost always took that with her coffee. He pays the barista an exact amount of muggle money and walks over to the counter to claim their drinks. He then walks over to Tina's building, rings the bell to her apartment and waited for her to let him in.

Newt was surprised when the door of the building opened to reveal Tina. He knew that he had never been up to her apartment before today, but he expected that she wouldn't be greeting him at the door. He thought that he was going to have to ask the landlord or landlady where Miss Goldstein was living. But instead of all that, he was greeted by a slightly groggy Tina who looked like she just woken up.

"I'm too early aren't I?" Newt asked as he watched Tina glare at him a little.

"No, it's fine," she grunts half-heartedly, walking ahead with Newt towing her. "It's 9, you're right on schedule. I just had a late night last night."

"We could always do this another time if you want to sleep in," Newt comments, pausing and slightly turning towards the door, ready to leave the moment she said so.

"No, no, like I said it's fine," Tina replies, sincerely this time, motioning him to follow her. "I just need to get some coffee in me and I'll be fine."

"Well it's a good thing I stopped by the coffee shop then," Newt said with a smile, revealing his treats to Tina and offering her a cup of coffee. "Black, two sugars."

"Well played, Scamander," Tina replies, raising her eyebrows at Newt in surprise before taking a sip of her coffee. "Ahh, that's the stuff."

"Croissant?"

"This morning is just getting better and better!" Tina exclaims in delight as she takes the paper bag containing the croissant that Newt had gotten for her. "I should invite you over the weekends more often."

Newt blushes at her comment. Truthfully, he would love to do this every single weekend if it meant spending more time with the only friend he had.

Tina pulls out the croissant from its bag and munches on it merrily, her mood already brightening up because of the treats that Newt had brought her. She leads her visitor up past a few flights of stairs. Newt was observing his surroundings, taking everything in since he was so used to doing it at work.

Tina turns to say something to Newt when she realizes that he wasn't behind her. She was about to call after him, realizing that she might have been walking too fast and too absorbed in her breakfast that she let her friend wander off in her building, when Newt popped right behind her, his face all screwed up in concentration.

"I thought I'd lost you or something," Tina says, her voice laced with a little panic. "everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine," Newt replies half-heartedly, his focus all but lost. "let's just go."

Tina wanted to pry further but knew simply by the look on Newt's face that he wasn't ready to tell her what it was that was bothering him yet. So, she continues to walk up another flight of stairs until they reached the floor where he apartment was located. She pushes the wooden door wide open and allows her guest in.

"I'm sorry for the mess," she comments as she followed Newt inside, her living room full of stacks of paperwork. "like I said I had a really late night last night."

Newt takes in his surroundings, appreciating every little detail of Tina's apartment, even though it was quite messy. He understood the feeling; his own apartment was quite a mess with all the work that he brought home from the ministry. Apparently, Tina was the same way.

"We still couldn't locate the headquarters of the potion smugglers," Tina continued as she started to wave her wand, clearing out the table sitting at the center of her living room to give room for her and Newt to work on the fire case. "Shacklebolt has us really trying to get into these smugglers' heads and gave us a _little_ weekend homework."

Tina rolled her eyes when she said 'little', gesturing at the stacks of paperwork that her lead auror had her bring home. "He just wants this case closed since it has been going on for quite some time now."

"It's fine, Tina," Newt says after she stopped babbling, hanging his coat on the stand by her door comfortably as if he'd been there before. "I can understand, my apartment is even messier than this. Believe me, I know."

"Does the ministry always have their employees bring home their work?" Tina asks playfully, putting one hand on her waist, coyly eyeing Newt from where she was standing.

"Not really," Newt replies nonchalantly as he walked even further into the living room. "they highly encourage it though. Especially for aurors. I remember when I still lived at my parent's estate, Theseus usually got home really late and always had stacks of paperwork in his study."

Tina almost choked on her morning coffee when she heard the revelation about her boss.

"Oh, yes," Newt added when he saw Tina's shocked expression. "he still lives with my parents and he has a study."

"That's not what surprised me, Newt," Tina laughs, walking over to him, a little surprised actually that her boss still lived with his parents. "I'm surprised to hear that you actually lived with Theseus."

Newt eyed Tina confusedly.

"Then again, you _are_ siblings," Tina comments even further, feeling a little awkward talking about her boss with his younger brother and a little stupid about her comments on them living together. "you had to have lived together."

A feeling of awkwardness started to fill the room, the pair of them not knowing what to say. Tina broke the silent awkwardness with a light-hearted, "Okay, now that this area is clean why don't we get started?"

Newt smiles at Tina and gestures for her to take a seat first since it was her apartment. She does, and Newt follows her example and sits opposite her. Tina pulls out a few rolls of parchment and some quills, offering Newt one, which he gladly accepts.

"So, the first fire started on Tuesday, right?" Tina inquires as she starts to scribble the date on the spare piece of parchment she had.

Newt nods at her, his face screwed up in concentration, ready to tackle on the problem of the sudden fires. He glances over at Tina, admiring the look of content on her face as she took a sip of her coffee in between scribbling furiously on the parchment in front of her.

"The next fire happened on Thursday," Newt continued as he turned back to look at the parchment and the details that Tina had already scribbled down. He wondered for a moment how she could have known all of this then he realized that she might have gathered the information from the muggle firefighters that she had asked about the incidents during the course of last week. "I remember because I was running late that morning."

"Yes, you were," Tina teased, smiling playfully at Newt feigning hurt. "lucky for you there was a fire I was too busy wondering what caused it or else I would have felt really bad that you ditched me yet again."

"One, I was running late," Newt defended himself. "two, you also ditched me that time I ditched you so that doesn't really count."

Tina raises her eyebrows knowingly at Newt, challenging him some more as he was trying to make a point.

"And three, you ditched me last week, so you don't get to play victim," Newt ends pointing at Tina with a triumphant smile.

"I said I was sorry," Tina countered, passing the parchment she was scribbling on over to Newt. "and you still got your morning drink that _I_ paid for, so let's call it quits."

"Okay," Newt said as he raised up his hands comically in defeat, not really caring who ditched who or how many times they did as he looked at the parchment that Tina had just passed over. "just wanted to clear things out."

Tina chuckles lightly at how playful they were, appreciating how Newt had managed to turn her sour early morning mood into a playful one. She forgoes the bantering and eyes the parchment that she just passed to Newt, which he was eyeing intently.

"Hmmm…I wonder…" Newt trails off, deep in thought. "you said that you think these fires were caused by something magical. Do you have any theories as to what?"

Tina simply shakes her head at Newt in reply.

"The only explanation I could find was that some random wizard could have cast a fire spell on each of those buildings," Tina says a few moments later as Newt was still concentrating hard on the information they had. "but I don't see how that's possible considering that this is a muggle neighborhood."

"And why would any wizard even consider burning up buildings on this side of the country?" Newt interjects, finishing Tina's thought for her as he stared off into the space in front of him. "Even if we attribute this to wizarding family feuds, it just doesn't make sense for any wizard to burn down a muggle building."

Newt and Tina sit in silence, both deep in thought trying to figure out what possible reason could there be for a wizard to be starting up random fires at a muggle neighborhood. Newt was staring off into space again when he noticed something under one of Tina's cabinets.

He stands abruptly from where he was sitting, startling Tina from her deep thinking, and walks over to the cabinet. He soon arrives at his destination and immediately kneels down to carefully observe what he had spotted underneath the cabinet while he was deep in thought.

"Newt?" Tina asks, standing herself and walking towards the cabinet that Newt just approached. "What's going on?"

Newt scrapes off the gray ash that caught his attention moments earlier from the bottom of the cabinet and stands up, bringing the ash closer to him and feeling it in his hands. It was the same ash that he had seen on his way up to Tina's apartment.

"Tina," Newt says tentatively, turning to face Tina and holding up his ash stained hand. "has it always been this ashy since you moved in here?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Tina replies in realization, never really concerning herself with the amount of ash that she usually found in her building. "I never really thought anything of it. I figured old building, ashy spaces. Why? Is that weird?"

"I'm not sure," Newt replies, rubbing his dirty hands against his trousers and walking over to the door where his coat was hanging on the coat stand.

Newt rummaged through the pockets of his coat, leaving a confused Tina walking towards him with her arms crossed against her chest. When he found what he was looking for Tina was still farther from where he was, so he walked over quickly to her and showed him a page that he flipped open to in his notebook. He points at one particular creature, one whose details he just finalized that morning.

"You see this?" he asks as he showed Tina his notes. "We call this the ashwinder. It had only been registered and brought into the department this week so we don't have a lot of information on it."

"Okay," Tina replies, unsure of where Newt was going with this. "what's this got to do with the fires around the neighborhood?"

"Everything," Newt answers, glancing at Tina, trying to convey with his eyes how serious the matter was. "you see these creatures literally spring from flames."

"So, you're saying that they're what's causing the fire this past week?" Tina inquires inquisitively, her interest finally peaked, all of what Newt was saying finally making sense to her.

Newt nods. "Mm-hmm. Yes. As far as I know these creatures are created from magical flames that were allowed to burn for too long and that have been left unchecked."

"Okay, so some random wizard was making or breeding these creatures to set fires to a muggle neighborhood," Tina states sarcastically, the information they had still not making any sense to her. "why though? Why would any wizard go through the trouble of making new magical creatures to just burn down muggle housing? They could have just used a fire-making charm and be done with it."

"Maybe they didn't do it on purpose," Newt answers almost immediately. "before last week even the department wasn't aware that such creatures exist, what more the wizarding community?"

Tina nods at Newt's words. "So, all these fires were just plain accidents then?"

"I guess so," Newt admits as he closes his notebook, walks over to couch, and slumps onto it. "but who would even be able to conjure up any magical flame at all in a muggle neighborhood? You're probably the only witch who even lives in this part of London and unless you've been leaving magical flames to burn at night, I don't see where these ashwinders could come from."

"No, I haven't been leaving magical flames unchecked at night," Tina retorts defensively. "I actually use a blanket to keep me warm."

Newt shakes his head at Tina, smiling at how cute she looked when she get angry. "I didn't mean to imply that you did."

"Well, now you know I didn't," Tina replies a little petulantly for her taste before she adds, "and I'm not the only witch who lives in this neighborhood."

Newt looks at her inquisitively, a million questions racing through his head. Tina walks over to where they were originally situated and sits back down.

"Last weekend I found that there are actually a few wizarding shops in the neighborhood," Tina begins explaining to Newt. "I actually went into one and asked why they even considered setting up a shop in a muggle neighborhood and I found out that they actually sell wizarding supplies."

"Wait, hang on," Newt interjects as he was trying to grasp the new information that was given to him by Tina. "doesn't that violate the Statute of Secrecy?"

"That's what I said," Tina replies, surprised that Newt had used the exact same words she did when she asked the lady at the shop. "but technically it doesn't. They aren't actually selling magical items to the muggles and they've cloaked the shop so that it would look like an ordinary store where muggles can pick up items for magic shows. They said they only sell the magical stuff to wizards who wander off to this part of London."

"So, you think they're the ones responsible for these ashwinders?" Newt clarifies, pointing at the trail of ash by the cabinet he just walked over to.

"Yes," Tina replied with much conviction, her eyes full of determination now that they've finally figured out a probable cause for these fires. "we should go and ask them about it."

Newt simply nods at Tina, who was already getting on her feet and heading to her room to get dressed. Newt was unsure of what he was supposed to as he waited for his friend to get dressed, so he simply opened his notebook again to study the notes he had on these new creatures and how this investigation with Tina would help in gathering more information about them. Excitement started to grow inside of Newt. He knew that the ashwinders were causing problems for muggles and that they did not deserve to have their buildings burnt down because of a few reckless wizards but having these ashwinders here in Tina's neighborhood would mean that he could finally gather more information on them.

Newt was about to call for Tina, wondering why she was taking so long to dress when he started to smell something burning. His thoughts immediately flew to the case that they were studying so he ran to the nearest window and peeked outside, checking to see if any of the buildings beside this one had burst into flames. But the only thing he saw when he looked out the window was scores of muggles trying to get their weekend chores done, neither of them were panicking.

It was then that it hit Newt. The reason that the muggles outside weren't panicking was because the fire was not happening in all the other buildings in the neighborhood. The reason why he was the only one who could smell it was because it was just starting. And it was starting in the very building that he and Tina were in.

"Tina!" Newt exclaimed as panic started to fill every fiber of his being.

"What? What is it?" Tina yelled in reply as she was jogging from her room to the living room, buttoning up the last few buttons left of her shirt. "What's going on?"

"We have to get the people of this building out of here," Newt says as he starts to push Tina out of her own apartment. "I think another fire is going to start right here in this very building."

"What? Newt, just stop – " Tina protested as Newt starts to shove her towards the door. "Wait, you're not making any sense. Why would you think there's a fire starting? Just because you found some ash lying around the apartment you're ready to conclude that a fire's about to begin?"

"No, Tina, it's not that," Newt begins to explain, so much determination in his eyes as he was trying to convince Tina to get out.

"Don't you smell that?" he asks again in frustration a few seconds later when she doesn't budge. "I smell smoke. The fire has already started somewhere, and this building is huge we'll never find where."

Fear starts to creep into Tina. She looks back at the apartment she had grown to love just in time to see a fire erupt from beneath the cabinet that Newt had just checked out a few minutes ago.

Newt and Tina were shocked to see the fires ignite one of Tina's cabinets. Newt ran inside immediately, pushing Tina out of the way, brandishing his wand and muttering an _Aguamenti!_ to put out the fire.

"Now do you believe me?" he asks, turning to look at a scared Tina. "we've got to go!"

"Hang on," Tina hesitates, walking closer towards Newt and back into the apartment. "you just put out the flame."

"Yes, so?"

"That means the building doesn't have to burn down," Tina says in realization, a new hope starting to shine in her eyes that she would be able to still call this place her home. "we could find these creatures, these ashwinders as you call them and put them out before everyone here loses their home."

It was then that Newt realized why Tina had hesitated to leave when he was urging her to. Even though she hadn't been here long, she had grown to love the apartment she had been staying in and the neighborhood that she was now a part of. It was hard for her to just watch it go up in flames when she knew she could do something to prevent that from happening.

"I'd venture a guess and say we don't have a lot of time," Newt offered, waving his wand at the door so that it would close. "we need to find more of those pesky creatures in here and figure out how to disarm them."

Tina nods in agreement, a look of determination plastered on her face. She waves her wand and all at once all the furniture inside her tiny, quaint apartment hovered. Newt stared in awe at the floating furniture, amazed at how adept Tina was with her magic, even though he knew that someone who worked as an auror for a living must be very skilled.

Newt breaks out of his reverie and started to help Tina find hints of a trail of ashes, similar to the ones that he had discovered earlier. The found a trail from where the cabinet that was set on fire was to a far corner by the window where a shelf (that was now hovering) was situated. Newt followed the trail the way he followed magical creatures when he was out on the field to study them, quietly yet stealthily. When he reached his destination, he was expecting to find another pile of ash but was met by what looked like a nest that contained a couple of brilliant red, slightly elongated figures. He walked even closer to it, wondering to himself what sort of creature this was because it certainly didn't look like the serpent-like ashwinder that was registered in their department.

As Newt got closer to the corner of the apartment, he started to feel himself sweat due to the heat. He unbuttoned the top of his shirt when he realized that the heat was actually radiating from the nest of brilliant red objects.

"So, this is what's been causing the fires, not the ashwinders," Newt mutters to himself as he walked even closer to the nest. "but what are you?"

Newt's fingers start to inch closer to one of the red objects. He moves closer and touches one of them and immediately yelps back in pain, feeling the sting of being burned on his fingers.

Tina notices Newt's distress immediately, a protective instinct suddenly rising up from inside her. She hurried over to him worriedly and asked, "What's wrong? What happened to you?"

Newt didn't have the time to answer because as soon as Tina was only a few inches from him he felt more intense heat than he already did before, and he knew in his heart that the object was going to burst into flames. He jumped from where he was standing towards Tina, wrapping his arms around her with his back against the flames that have just erupted. His weight plus the shock of being jumped at was too much for both Tina and Newt to handle that they found themselves on the floor, Tina on her back and Newt hovering right above her.

Neither of them had the time to contemplate what just happened because a fire had just once again started. Newt was on his feet almost immediately and cast another _Aguamenti!_ at the fire that had just started, which extinguishes the flame immediately.

Newt turns back to face a stunned Tina still lying on the floor. He approaches her and offers her one of his hands and apologizes, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to knock you over."

Tina takes Newt's hand thankfully and allows him to pull her up and steady her. "It's fine. You were just trying to keep either of us from getting burned."

Newt was about to ask Tina if she was alright when she immediately said, "We need to find these things fast. I'd rather prevent these fires from starting rather than extinguishing them one at a time. What if they erupt all at the same time? We can't both cast water spells at them with just the two of us doing them. We'll all be burned in minutes."

Tina walks off and starts to look for more trails around her apartment, knowing that they didn't have much time on their hands if they were to prevent the fire that was threatening to burn up the entire building.

"Whose stupid idea was it to make these creatures anyway?" Tina questioned with frustration as she returns back from her bedroom after confirming none of those blasted creatures were in there. "Who would even think that creatures that exploded into fires are fun?"

"I don't think it's the creatures that explode into fires," Newt solicited as he was deep in thought.

"What do you mean it's not the creatures?" Tina questioned incredulously, her anger starting to rise at how Newt even had time to argue with her in that moment when they didn't even have time to stop the fire. "Of course, it's the creatures!"

"No, think about it," Newt encourages as he walks over to Tina, who had her arms on her waist. "if we were right and it _was_ ashwinders that are causing these fires then why did the objects that exploded into a fire moments ago not look like the ashwinders that were registered in our office this week?"

"Maybe it was another breed of ashwinders," Tina supplied half-heartedly, not wanting to discuss anything right now but instead look for those blasted creatures and exterminate them. "maybe it's another magical creature you people haven't registered yet. I don't know. You're the expert, you tell me."

Tina was yelling at Newt in frustration, but it wasn't bothering him. He was too deep in thought trying to find an explanation to the things they've seen today and to the information that both of them had gathered. Before Newt can even come up with an explanation he and Tina heard a scream coming from two floors up.

"You don't think…?"

"That another fire just started, oh yes I do," Tina replies. "better think faster Newt, we need to stop these creatures before they set fire to entire building."

"I'm trying," Newt grinds his teeth in frustration.

"Well try harder!" Tina snapped at him, regretting it almost immediately when he saw how hurt he was the moment she did.

Newt turns his back on Tina and starts to work. He walks over to where the trail of the ashes started and traced back his steps to where he found the exploding-fire-starting-creatures. He could hear Tina tapping her feet at him impatiently, but he ignored her. It wouldn't help if he got into a screaming match with her. Right now, the most important thing was for him to find a solution and fast.

"Those were eggs," Newt finally supplies a few moments later, a hint of excitement in his eyes as realization struck. He turns excitedly towards Tina, a smile on his face, immediately forgetting that she snapped at him earlier and continues, "the things that were causing the fire weren't a different species of magical creatures, they were ashwinder eggs!"

"Eggs?" Tina asks exasperated. "Why would a creature lay exploding eggs? Aren't eggs supposed to be how they reproduce and start a new life and not how they end their own?"

"Well, yes, for most creatures," Newt replies confidently. "but maybe not for these ones."

"See, I don't know how the understanding of ashwinder reproduction and them laying their eggs in buildings helps us right now," Tina comments sarcastically as Newt was muttering stuff to himself.

"Newt!" Tina exclaims in frustration when Newt wasn't paying attention to her, too deep in thought he forgot that their situation was dire. "What can we do?"

"We could freeze them," Newt answers immediately with conviction as he turned to face a really pissed off Tina. "freeze the eggs before they explode into flames."

Tina's frustration and anger finally started to subside when Newt finally suggested a way for them to stop these creatures from setting fire to her home. They both hear another scream and started to smell wood burning. They looked at each other, panic both in their eyes.

"We need to split up," Tina decided, looking intently at Newt. "I'll take the upper floors, you take the lower ones. Find the eggs fast and freeze them. If a fire starts put them out as fast as you can."

"With magic?" Newt confirms, feeling a little doubtful about using magic in front of muggles.

Tina sees the doubt in his eyes and understands his hesitation. She plasters a comforting look on her face, nods and says, "Yes, with magic. We don't have a choice."

Newt nods at her, feeling a sense of duty. He apparates out of the room and directly onto the floor where he first found the ashes while Tina runs out of her own apartment and races towards the upper floors to look for some ashwinder eggs herself.

Newt forwent the knocking and instead burst into the homes of Tina's neighbors, who protested and threated to call the police. He didn't pay much attention to them and simply went on to find the eggs he knew were in each apartment. He freezed them, searched for more eggs and exited each apartment leaving dumbstruck muggles in his wake.

Newt finally reached Tina's floor and managed to freeze all the eggs he could find when he heard more screams and rumbling. Panic started to rise inside him again when he realized that Tina was in the upper floors trying to put out a fire that had already started _and_ find and freeze ashwinder eggs. He realized that she could not possible do all of that on her own, so he rushes after her, climbing each flight of stairs as fast as he could so that he could reach her.

Newt reached the ninth floor of the building and smoke was starting to make it harder for him to breath. The fire had already started on the upper floors and were slowly consuming the lower ones.

"Tina!" he exclaims as he was trying to weave his way through the smoke and find her. "Tina, are you here?"

"Newt!" she calls from afar. "I'm here. Help, please!"

 _Help, please!_

Newt felt more panicked at the sound of Tina uttering those words. He runs off deeper and deeper into the building, searching every apartment for Tina but he couldn't find her.

"Newt!"

He hears her voice getting louder, which meant he was getting closer. He runs towards the direction of her voice, her coughs becoming more evident as he got closer to her.

"Tina!"

"I'm in here!"

Newt finally finds where Tina was. The sight that met him drained all the blood from his face. Tina's clothes were half-scorched from the fires that were so close to where she was situated. But what made Newt worry so much was that she pinned down by a huge slab of wood panels that made it impossible for her to move or escape. If she didn't get out of her bind she would be burned to death.

He hears her cough some more, the smoke that the fire was generating starting to fill her lungs and making it impossible for her to breath. She pushed hard on the wood that was keeping her pinned down, but it was too heavy for her to handle. She screams in frustration and started to reach out for something, something that Newt couldn't see that was lying on the floor. Newt realized that she was trying to reach her wand. She was pinned down and without a wand. She needed help.

Newt sprints into the apartment, avoiding the little fires that were starting to build up. He reaches her almost immediately and starts to shove on the wood panel, praying that his added weight would help nudge the thing off Tina.

"It's too heavy," Newt grunts as he uses all the strength he had to push off the weight off her. They both hear more screams from the lower floors. Their eyes immediately flew to each other, knowing full well that other fires might have probably started while they were trying to unpin Tina from where she was rooted.

"Use your wand," Tina suggests as she pushes on the panel keeping her down, wanting to be free of the blasted thing so she could go and help more of her neighbors.

"Oh, right," Newt replies feeling slightly stupid that he didn't think of that himself. All of his common sense went out the window when he saw Tina pinned down to the floor, sweating and coughing from the flames and smoke that were surrounding her, flames and smoke that were now surrounding the both of them, that were threatening to kill them right there and then.

With a swift wave of his wand Newt managed to free Tina and extinguish the flames that were surrounding them. Newt helps Tina on her feet and steadies her. He didn't have time to ask her if she was alright, she leapt towards the door of the apartment, ready to head to other floors and help. Newt caught her arm before she could escape and apparated the both of them out of the building before they both choked to death.

They landed only a few feet away from Tina's building, both coughing and spewing, trying to regain their breathing.

When Tina finally realized where Newt had brought her she started to run back towards the building, desperate to get back inside and do all she could to extinguish the fires that were eating away at her new home. Newt caught her by the waist this time, preventing her from running into a burning building and getting herself killed.

"Let go of me!" Tina screams as she struggles to get away from Newt's firm hold, struggling and thrashing as hard as she can. "Newt let go of me!"

"There's no use Tina," Newt says solemnly as he looked at the building that used to be where Tina lived, his hold on her still firm and tight. "it's gone, there's no way you could save it now."

Tina turns to face Newt and glowers at him. She was ready to start screaming at him, to start blaming him for the fate of the place she just started to feel like home, but the look on his face changed all that. All of her angry, snide comments evaporated and all she could do was fling her arms around his neck, pull him towards her and hug him.

"It's gone," she confirms sadly, burying her head into the crook of his neck. "I couldn't save it. I couldn't save any of them."

"You did your best," he comforted, running his free hand on top of her head, pulling her into him and holding her tighter.

Newt wasn't sure exactly where all the familiarity between the two of them had came from. All he knew was that in that moment someone important to him had just experienced a devastating loss, one that she didn't even know would happen that day.

Tina sobs silently onto Newt's shoulder, feeling slightly embarrassed that she was crying in his arms over an apartment she just moved into a few weeks ago. She was starting to feel home in London, she was starting to love that apartment and all of a sudden it was ripped away from her.

They both stood in each other's arms at the spot they landed in for what felt like years. They would have happily stayed like that for a longer time, but someone interrupted their little intimate moment.

"Newton?"

Newt's head snaps immediately to face the person whose voice the words belonged to. He loosened his hold on Tina when he realized that his brother had just apparated to a muggle neighborhood he wouldn't be caught dead in.

Tina feels Newt's hold on her loosen and felt a sudden loss. She disentangles herself from him and starts to wipe the tears from her face and turns to face whoever it was that said Newt's name.

"Theseus?" Newt asks in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a report from the minister that a wizard was breaking the Statute of Secrecy in this muggle neighborhood," Theseus begins to explain to his little brother, looking at him and then finally to woman who was standing beside him and then back at Newt. "please tell me that wasn't you."

"Uhhh…"

"Mr. Scamander, it wasn't Newt's fault," Tina asserted as she came to Newt's rescue, adjusting her stance to the one she usually had at work. "he was just trying to stop the building from burning down."

"Don't tell me you're a part of this too, Goldstein," Theseus groans as he started to realize that his brother and one of his newest recruits were actually the ones responsible for what happened here.

"Sadly sir, I am," Tina replies formally, trying to keep a poker face as she was addressing her boss.

"Would either of you care to explain to me why you thought it was a great idea to use magic in a heavily populated muggle neighborhood?" Theseus inquires rather annoyed that two grown ass wizards would decide to flout the Statute of Secrecy now of all days.

"Well, you see there have been spontaneous fires that have been happening in these parts this past week, sir," Tina begins to explain. "not one muggle firefighter could explain why, and I suspected that it was because of magic of some sort."

"Then why didn't you bring this case to the ministry?" Theseus questioned, crossing his arms at his newest recruit and ignoring his little brother.

"Because I didn't have proof, sir," Tina replied truthfully, trying so hard to keep eye contact with her boss who was glaring daggers at her. "Newt and I were going to gather the proof we needed this weekend, so we could bring it to the ministry and pitch the case to the department when this happened."

"Newt?"

Tina chuckles nervously at Theseus as he looked from her to his little brother, realizing that the two had known each other for quite some time. He raises an eyebrow at Newt, knowing full well that he would understand the question that his big brother was asking him. He held back his teasing because he had a situation on his hands, making a mental note to do it later when this debacle gets sorted out and looks back at Tina.

"So, your idea of a great Saturday was to go undercover and find a mystery fire causing entity with someone who has no training whatsoever when it comes to cases like this?" Theseus questioned sarcastically. "My, my Goldstein, I thought you were better than that."

"Can you stop being a prick for a day and just leave Tina be?" Newt snaps at his older brother, losing all the patience he had with Theseus.

Both Theseus' and Tina's heads snapped in Newt's direction, both shocked by what Newt had just said.

"She just lost her apartment," Newt continues, his courage slowly starting to dwindle when he saw the teasing expression on his brother's face. "the least you could do is let her get back on her feet."

"Very well," Theseus relents with a sigh, realizing that there was no point in getting both their statements right now since he had to deal with the mess they both made and obliviate every single muggle who knew that magic existed. "I need to guide a team of obliviators to do their job anyway."

Both Newt and Tina let out a breath they both didn't know they were holding. Theseus eyed the both of them suspiciously before saying, "You two will need to report to me on Monday so I could debrief you on everything that you discovered today. I will also need your statements so that I could explain to the Minister why the both of you do not deserve to have your wands snapped in two and be thrown into Azkaban."

Theseus turns to look at a corner, where one by one obliviators were popping out of nowhere like daisies. He turned back to the two wizards responsible for him having to work on a weekend and says, "Details of all of this will be delivered to you by own. Good day."

They both nodded at the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before he started walking away. Theseus couldn't help himself so he turned back to look at Newt, giving his little brother one last teasing stare before he called the team of obliviators that had just arrived to follow him so that they could deal with the situation.

"I'm sorry about Theseus," Newt apologizes as soon as they were left alone. "he has always been like that."

"It's okay," Tina replies with a small smile. "it's part of his job."

"And I'm sorry about your apartment," Newt adds with a frown. "if only I thought faster maybe we could have saved it."

"You did your best," she supplies with a smile, taking one of his hands in her own and squeezing it lightly to comfort him.

He smiles at how she used his words for her to comfort him, marveling at how calm she was despite the fact that she had no place to live anymore.

Tina lets go of Newt's hand and turns to look back at the burning building that she thought she'd be able to call home. She sighs sadly as looks at the building being consumed by flames. Newt follows Tina and turns to look at the building, standing beside her, only a few inches away.

"You should come and stay with me while you look for a new place to live," Newt blurts out of the blue as he watches the obliviators modify the memories of the muggles that saw him and Tina perform magic.

Tina was shocked by how blunt Newt was all of a sudden, but she felt a warmth in her heart that he'd even consider taking her in. "I wouldn't want to impose."

"You're not," Newt replies simply, turning his head to look at her. "I'm inviting you."

Tina turns her head to look at Newt, immediately locking eyes with him. "Thanks."

"Besides, I'm the only friend you have in London," Newt continues a little smugly. "who else would you stay with?"

Tina eyes Newt, who was smiling like a dork. "Only for a while, I promise."

Newt gives her a smug nod and she rolled her eyes at him playfully.

"Come on," Newt says. "let's get some food in you. After the day you had you deserve some comfort food."

"Don't tell me," Tina replies playfully, walking beside Newt as he started to walk towards the direction they took when they went to work. "you're taking me to the Leaky Cauldron again!"

"Ha ha," Newt retorts playfully. "I'm not."

Tina smiles at Newt, taunting him with her eyes as if trying to tell him she doesn't believe him.

"Believe it or not I do know a couple of nice places to eat around here," Newt says. "I am from here after all."

Tina chuckles at his playfulness, unable to believe that there's this person who could get her to smile and laugh even after something as major a disaster as having your home burnt down happened.

They walk a few more blocks side by side in silence before Tina turns to Newt and says, "Thank you."

"The pleasure is all mine," Newt replies earnestly, fake bowing at her before he leads her into one of his favorite restaurants for some lunch and hopefully a better weekend that didn't involve anymore burning buildings.


	6. Chapter 6: The Investigation Squad

A/N: I have a little note about this chapter. I recently found out that aurors work in the Auror Office of the Ministry and not the Department for Magical Law Enforcement. I swear I read the books but I always assumed that the Auror Office was just a division of the DMLE but apparently not. But for the sake of this fic let's say that it is that way. That's all, I guess. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you so much for still reading this, it means a lot. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Sundays usually went swiftly for both Newt and Tina, both of them really focused on preparing themselves for the week ahead of them, but somehow this weekend was different.

Newt had offered for Tina to stay with him while she recovered from the recent tragedy that was her losing her apartment to a fire. Newt hadn't even considered what that would mean for the two of them or their friendship, he didn't think that living with Tina would affect any of that.

But he soon realized how wrong he was.

Being raised well by both his parents, Newt had insisted that Tina take his bedroom and that he sleep on the couch until Tina moved out. Tina fought Newt's offer with as much insistence as she could muster until she simply gave up arguing with him and agreed to take his room. It was just another thing she learned about Newt Scamander, he was a hard guy to say no to.

Tina wasn't the only one who learned new things about her new roommate, Newt did too. He learned that Tina wasn't exactly an early riser. She preferred to sleep in when she can.

Newt was the complete opposite. He loved getting up early to get started with his day, which usually involved brewing a fresh cup of tea for breakfast. This time around though, Newt had changed his usual morning tea breakfast and opted to brew a pot of coffee for his new roommate. It was true that he had grown to appreciate the drink, but he still preferred to get kicked awake by some good old-fashioned tea.

As soon as the coffee was ready, Newt pours himself a cup and adds milk and a little sugar into his cup. He then chugs the teaspoon he used to mix his drink into the sink and walks towards his bedroom, where he found Tina still fast asleep.

He breaths in the fragrant aroma of the coffee he just made for himself before taking a tentative sip, a smile starting to form on his lips as he sees Tina's sleeping form. She looked so at peace while she slept, considering what happened the day before. And despite her disheveled hair, Tina looked extremely beautiful asleep, even that little pout she had on endeared him. It was as if she was telling Newt to leave her alone, so she could sleep a little longer.

Newt chuckles softly before he walks out of his bedroom (her bedroom now, he reminded himself), closing the door softly behind him so that Tina could get in a few more hours of sleep, she deserved it.

After stopping by the kitchen to grab few biscuits to pair off with the coffee he made, Newt walked towards the kitchen and scribbled a small note for Tina before walking to his study to continue collating some of the information he was able to gather on the ashwinders. Ever since the incident at Tina's neighborhood, Newt was really interested in finding out everything he could about these new creatures.

Newt clears out his desk and settles his cup of coffee before going to work and writing down all that he knew about the ashwinders, including all the new information that he and Tina had found out about them when they tried to stop her building from being burned down.

Newt pulls out his trusted notebook from the pocket of his favorite coat and opened to the page that had all the past information he had on the ashwinders when they were brought to their department the week before. He glanced at the sketch he had of the creature and grimaced, a little annoyed that he didn't actually get the chance to find one to study before the building went up in flames. He flipped over the page he was on and started drawing the elongated eggs that he and Tina found lying around her building which they discovered were the actual cause of the sudden fires in the neighborhood. With a wave of his wand Newt had enhanced the picture he had just drawn by adding the characteristic brilliant red color of the eggs and added a few squiggly lines to indicate that they gave off heat. He then grabbed a quill and hastily scribbled notes on how to keep the eggs from bursting into flames by freezing them before they explode.

Newt stayed in his study, too focused on the task at hand. He would want to get all the information he had on the creatures so that when he reported for work tomorrow he could ask the head of his department for a week off, just so he could study them.

Newt was too absorbed with his work, flipping from one page to another, reviewing all the magical creatures that have been registered and few others that he had already done thorough research on that he didn't notice that the door to his study was slowly opening.

Tina pokes her head inside the study, peering for the man she had come looking for, a coffee cup in her hand.

"Good morning," she echoes gruffly, startling Newt who was able to narrowly avoid spilling his entire ink bottle all over his notes.

Newt turns to smile at Tina, giving her a welcoming nod and greets, "Good morning, Tina."

Tina opens the door to the study a little wider and leans against the doorframe while waving a little piece of parchment with her free hand. "I got your message. Thanks for the coffee."

Newt turns back to his table to grab his own cup and take a sip before turning back to smile at her. "My pleasure."

Tina flashes Newt with a weak smile, still leaning against the door of the study. Newt notices that he had completely forgotten to invite her in, so he moves to rectify that by motioning her towards his desk. "Please Tina, do come in."

Tina moves tentatively, a nervous expression on her face, unsure that she would want to invade her friend's privacy. But with Newt's encouragement, she finally pushes past the door and closes it behind her before walking over to Newt.

Tina realized that there weren't any other chairs in the study. She hesitated at first, wanting to find a spot to lean against but every inch of the study was filled with different parchments that she could only guess would be some of Newt's research. She couldn't find anywhere else to lean against, so she decided to lean against Newt's table so that she was facing him. It would make it easier for her to say what she came to say.

"So, we're leaving each other notes now?" Tina asks a little playfully, arching her eyebrows at Newt, teasing him.

"Maybe," Newt replied happily, smiling innocently at Tina.

"Well, then there's another note you need to read," Tina offers, shifting a little from where she was sitting to grab the note she found waiting for Newt on the dining table. She handed out a neatly rolled piece of parchment to him and went back to leaning against the table and sipping her coffee.

"Who's it from?"

"Why don't you open it and see for yourself," Tina replies coyly, taking another sip of her coffee and reveling in its taste.

Newt smirked at Tina as he unrolled the piece of parchment. Just as he was about to start reading the letter, a smaller piece of parchment fell to the floor.

 _A letter within a letter? That's odd._ Newt thinks to himself as he moved to pick up the piece of parchment from the floor. He looks back up at Tina, making pleading faces at her to tell him who the letter was from. She just raised her eyebrows at him and took another sip of her coffee, not even giving him a hint as to who it was from.

"It's from Theseus. It's about our debrief on the ashwinder incident," Newt says after he skims through the letter that had his brother's neat script on it. "it says that I have to be at his office tomorrow morning at 9."

"I got the same one," Tina adds as she waved another spare piece of parchment that she had tucked inside her pajama pocket that had the same script that could be found in Newt's letter. "it's funny that your brother was even able to have this letter delivered to me considering I didn't tell him I was staying with you."

"He might have guessed I know where you were now living and decided that he'd have me deliver it to you?" Newt suggested, trying not to think about how this was one of his brother's ways of teasing him about Tina.

Newt flips over the smaller piece of parchment, dreading what could it possibly have written in it.

 _Since you know Miss Goldstein so well, could you do me a favor and have her letter delivered to her new residence? In all the haste I forgot to ask her where she intended to live after the fire. – your brother, Theseus_

 _P.S. Why didn't you tell me that the_ _ **friend**_ _you were taking out on a date was one of my aurors? It would have made all the teasing I gave you that day more fun._

 _P.P.S. I saw the way you were with her yesterday. She is not_ _ **just**_ _your friend, Newton. ;)_

Newt starts to turn bright red as he read through his big brother's letter, fully aware that Tina was in the same room as he was, eyeing him curiously.

"Is something wrong?" Tina finally asks a few minutes later, noticing Newt's strange reaction to the note hidden inside the letter.

"No, nothing at all," Newt replies immediately, shoving the letters he got from his brother into one of the coats that were hanging in his study.

Tina chose to ignore Newt's weird behavior as her eyes started to wander to the desk she was leaning against. She realizes what was scattered across it, so she looks back at Newt, her coffee cup against her lips and asks, "Are these all the notes you have on the ashwinders?"

"Yes," Newt confirmed as he moved his notebook closer towards Tina.

Tina shifted from where she was and finally stood up, turning to bend over and look at the notes that Newt had written in his magical creatures notebook. Newt sees that she was uncomfortable from where she stood so he transfigures one of the umbrellas he had in the study into a sturdy chair she could sit on.

"Here, please sit," he says as he magics the chair towards Tina. "I'm sorry, I don't usually have guests, so I never really thought of getting more furniture than I actually need."

"It's fine, I understand," Tina blurts out, waving a hand at Newt while she concentrates on the pages about the ashwinders and how the information leapt off the page because of Newt's enhancements to it. "I didn't exactly live in the most welcoming apartment ever."

"Your apartment was lovely, Tina," Newt commented softly, placing his hand on top of Tina's, his fingers softly touching hers in comfort, their faces only a few inches apart.

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Tina smiles, no more feelings of sadness in her. She turns away from Newt, breaking the very brief moment they were sharing.

Newt shakes out of the trance he was in that were caused by Tina's gaze. He turns back to look down at his work, unable to focus on anything else other than the presence of the woman sitting beside him.

"What do you think will happen at the debrief tomorrow?" Tina asks, turning to face Newt who was concentrating so hard at not looking at her, lest he wanted to humiliate himself again.

"I'm guessing Theseus would just want an explanation of what really happened yesterday. And I guess he would also want us to tell him everything that we know about what we'd uncovered before the building went down," Newt answers, his eyes flicking to the cup that was sitting on his table, holding the coffee that he sure had now gone cold. "and maybe yell at us a bit for violating the Statute of Secrecy."

"Hopefully that's all," Tina says, her gaze returning to the mess that was Newt's table. "I wouldn't want to meet the minister this way."

"Not exactly how you envisioned meeting him, isn't it?" Newt asks, finally looking over at Tina.

"No," Tina replies, turning her head toward Newt, smiling at him. "anyway, I'll leave you to it. I think I might have disturbed you working on something important when I barged in here unannounced."

Tina pushes the chair she was sitting on and stands. She waves her wand swiftly and the chair was transfigured back into the umbrella that it was before Newt had transfigured it into a chair for her. She tucks the umbrella back in the stand and walks to the door. She places a hand on the knob and turns to face Newt.

"I just wanted to say thank you for the coffee," Tina smiles sincerely, motioning at the coffee cup she brought with her when she walked into his study. "and for letting me stay here with you."

"You're welcome, Tina," Newt replies simply, his eyes wide with awe that something so simple affected Tina. "I just didn't want to leave a friend to fend for themselves after something like that happened."

"Your friends are lucky to have you, Newt."

With that comment, Tina exits the room and shuts the door behind her, leaving Newt stunned in the study because of her words.

"I don't have any friends," Newt mutters into the empty space, staring at the door separating him and his new roommate. "except you, Tina."

Sadness and disappointment starts to fill Newt when he realized that he was once again alone inside his study. He had never felt sad or disappointed at being left alone before, he actually preferred it. But somehow, something about Tina makes him feel a lot of things he never imagined he'd ever feel. He shakes himself, trying to get himself to focus on what he was supposed to be doing. He rotates his chair and goes back to his work, a part of his brain still thinking of Tina and the odd effect she had on him.

* * *

The next day, Tina wakes up earlier than she did the day before and beat Newt to making morning coffee. She hesitated making coffee at first, trying to decide if she and Newt would still head to the muggle coffee shop where they usually had their morning routines. She decided later on that it was dumb to even go there now that she doesn't live in that neighborhood. So, she brewed a pot of coffee, realizing that as much as she wanted to make Newt tea for what he is doing for her, she wouldn't know how to.

"Good morning," Newt greets as he entered the living room, already dressed and ready to go.

"Good morning," Tina greets in reply, moving to grab two travel mugs she just transfigured from ordinary coffee cups. She offers one of them to Newt and takes a sip from her own. "I made you coffee for breakfast. I figured we wouldn't be going to the coffee shop any longer now that I don't live near it. I would have made you tea, but I don't know how to brew tea, so I settled for what I know."

Newt chuckles as Tina finished her sentence. He then took a sip of the coffee she made him, thankful that she made it just the way he liked it and not like the way she likes it.

"Thanks, this is good for now," Newt replies gratefully. "but let me do the brewing tomorrow, okay? I wouldn't want to be stuck drinking coffee every morning for another week."

Tina rolls her eyes and laughs at him before grabbing a new coat she had bought after the fire. She put the coat on and started to walk towards the door when Newt tugged on her sleeve.

"No, we're not going to work that way," Newt says as he held on to her firmly, earning him a puzzled look from Tina. "we're going through there."

Newt points to the fireplace directly behind the sofa set before looking back at Tina.

"We're going by floo, Tina," Newt reassures her as soon as he saw the disapproving look she had on her face. "I know you prefer walking to work or apparating but this would be much easier. The ministry is nowhere near here, so this is the quicker way."

"Fine," Tina grumbles as she followed Newt to the fireplace. "I really hate how sooty you get after stepping out of a receiving fireplace though."

"Oh, don't worry," Newt says merrily. "the ministry fireplaces have enchantments on them so that any witch or wizard stepping out of them would be soot-free."

Tina shakes her head at Newt before taking a handful of floo powder from the clay pot that was located at the top right of the fireplace. She threw the powder towards the fireplace and an emerald flame erupted almost immediately. Tina stepped into the fire, feeling a little adamant after the incident that happened over the weekend, and yelled, "Ministry of Magic!" before the flame devoured her and she disappeared. Newt smiled at how grumpy the floo network made Tina before grabbing some floo powder for himself and following Tina to the ministry.

Newt half expected Tina to have dashed off to her department already, leaving him to walk to said department for the debrief with Theseus, but lucky for him she didn't. She was waiting for him by the fireplaces at the ministry that lead to the atrium.

"Took you long enough," she teased him as soon as he stepped out of the fireplace he arrived in. "C'mon we gotta go meet your brother at the department."

Newt was about to protest because he wanted to stop by his office for a moment before heading to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement but Tina eyed him firmly and said, "No time to stop by your department Newt, we're running late, and I don't want to get yelled at by my boss alone when I have someone who could commiserate with me."

Tina then tugged on Newt's arm, not letting him argue any further. They walked side-by-side to the elevators and to Tina's department. Newt accompanied Tina to her cubicle before they went to Theseus' office for debriefing.

The door to Theseus' was open, unlike any other day. Newt and Tina gave each other a panicked look before they walk towards the office of the head of the department. Tina stops to knock softly on the open door to signal their arrival. Theseus was already in, reading some paperwork that had been on his pile since last week. He looked up from his desk when he heard the light knock on the door, placing the papers back on his in pile as soon as he realized who it was.

"Ah, Goldstein, Scamander," Theseus says as sees the pair at the door, eyeing his brother teasingly. "come in and please shut the door, this might take a while."

Tina gulped as she followed Newt into her boss' office, shutting the door behind her as soon as she was in. They both sat in front of Theseus' desk as the head auror stood up from where he was sitting.

"Now, can both of you tell me exactly what happened last Saturday?" Theseus began inquiring, no small talk at all just right down to the facts.

"Well, sir, you know about the spontaneous fires that were starting in the neighborhood and that Newt and I were trying to find an explanation as to what was causing them," Tina reminds her boss of what she told him that day. "we both thought it was caused by something magical but had no proof, so we couldn't bring the case to you sir."

"And did you find this fire causing magical entity, Goldstein?" Theseus asked as he walked back over to his chair and sat down, propping up his elbows against his table and leaning towards Newt and Tina.

"Yes, we did," Newt replied immediately, surprising both Tina and his brother that he answered a question that wasn't aimed at him. "it was a magical creature. Specifically, the egg of a magical creature."

Before Theseus could protest and ask more questions than he could answer, Newt pulls out his notebook and shows the notes that he finalized the day before to his brother. He points at the drawing of the ashwinder egg that he and Tina found in the building before it went up in flames, "that's what the eggs look like. They give off extreme heat that later leads to them bursting into flames and burning down any dwelling they were laid in."

"You said they were eggs," Theseus states as he looked intently at his brother, who nodded at him. "I haven't seen any magical eggs like these before, which means they come from a magical creature that we haven't heard of yet."

"Yes, sir," it was Tina's turn to reply. She moves her hand from where it was neatly tucked on her lap and flips the page back and points at the drawing that Newt had made. "it comes from something like this sir. Newt calls it an ashwinder."

Theseus looks from Tina to his brother, observing the both of them very cautiously.

"We didn't get to see one of the creatures when were doing our investigation, but we managed to find the eggs and discover that they are what caused the fires," Newt says as his brothers gaze flicked to him as he began to explain. "these ashwinders are a new species of magical creatures that have been created because someone let a magical fire burn for too long unchecked. Whether the creator did this by accident or not, we do not know, brother. All that we are sure of is that it is the eggs of the creatures that caused the fire at that muggle neighborhood."

Theseus nods as he began to internalize all that his brother and his new recruit were telling him. He leans back comfortably on his chair and runs his fingers agaist his chin in thought.

"And these eggs, do new ashwinders come from them when they burst to flames?" Theseus asks again, wanting to know more about these new creatures that could possibly be harmful to the wizarding community not only because they can cause fires but also because it might expose them to the muggles.

"No," Newt replies with certainty. "they simply produce fires, they're in no way a means for reproduction."

Newt looks at Tina when he said the last few words of his sentence, a teasing look on his face at the reminder of the playful argument they had about eggs and reproduction that weekend.

"And how exactly do you stop them from bursting into flames?" Theseus asks again, his attention fully on his brother now.

"You freeze them, sir," Tina replies, which made Theseus turn to her. "that's what Newt and I were trying to do when we were doing magic in front of those muggles. We were trying to freeze as many eggs as we could find."

Newt nodded from where he was sitting and added, "the flames a single egg could start aren't that big so if one erupts you can simply put them out using water. But if you have enough of them in one place they could burn a whole building down. These eggs are usually laid in nests by the ashwinders, so it was only a matter of time before that muggle building burned down."

Theseus nodded in understanding, more questions starting to form in his head, questions he was sure neither Tina or his brother would be able to answer.

"Okay, I think I have everything I need," Theseus says a few minutes later, a new idea formed in his head. "and you both are lucky that you had a reasonable explanation for breaking the Statute of Secrecy."

Theseus eyes to two of them intently before saying, "but I thank you both for the information you have given. I think that it would be enough to open a whole new investigation into why these ashwinders were set lose in a muggle neighborhood."

Tina perks up when she heard this. She knew that she was working on the potion smuggling case with Shacklebolt but she hoped that whoever Theseus assigned to lead the investigation into the ashwinders would ask her to help somehow.

"Goldstein," Theseus says as he gets up from his seat, pacing back and forth in front of Newt and Tina. "I want you to be the lead auror for this case."

"Lead auror?" Tina inquires doubtfully. "but sir, I'm new here. I don't think I should be the lead auror in any case yet. I would be willing to assist someone else in this investigation sir, but I don't think I should spearhead it."

"Don't worry about the other aurors, Goldstein," Theseus replies, knowing full well why his new recruit wouldn't want to lead an investigation at the moment. "they might have worked in the department longer than you but none of them ever uncovered a case before there was even one to investigate."

Theseus stops pacing and stands directly in front of Tina, "I see great potential in you Goldstein, and I wouldn't trust anyone to lead this case other than you."

Theseus then takes his seat and grabs a piece of parchment from his top drawer and starts to scribble, "Besides, you already know a lot about the case, so I wouldn't have to brief you on everything you just told me. You might close this case faster than anyone in this department simply because you already know more than any of us do."

After he finished scribbling down something, Theseus folded up the piece of parchment and enchanted it into a tiny paper plane, which flew off towards the elevator to the person it was meant for.

"For now, I'll be assigning you only one person to help with the investigation," Theseus continues, completely ignoring the fact that his brother was still in the room with them listening to information of a case that should just stay between the members of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. "we're low on aurors right now with all the unsolved cases that are still on going. I'll talk to Shacklebolt about you taking a break from the potion smuggling case while you do this, and I will send over the person who will assist you in the investigation later today, maybe after lunch so that you two can start investigating."

Tina nodded at her boss, taking in everything that he was saying as her heart raced at the thought of being a lead auror in a case despite her being new to the department.

Theseus nods at Tina after his instructions and turns to his brother, "You may go, Mr. Scamander. I'm sure your department head is looking for you. Thank you for all the information you have given this department, it will help with our investigation."

Newt blinked furiously at his brother, feeling a little weird at how polite Theseus was being. He stands up from where he was sitting and walks towards the door, whispering a silent goodbye to Tina as he exited his brother's office. Before he stalked off to the elevators he chanced a glance back at Tina but instead caught his brother's eye. Theseus gave Newt a mischievous look, wiggling his eyebrows playfully at his little brother. Newt groans internally, knowing full well that his brother was teasing him, before heading to the elevators and finally to his department to ask his head if he could take a week off to study the ashwinders.

Newt walks up to his boss' office and knocks on the door before entering.

"Newt!" Russell Hughes, the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, exclaims merrily at the sight of one of his promising employees. "Well, just the man I was looking for."

"Sir, if I could please have a moment of your time it's important," Newt says as he enters Mr. Hughes' office, shutting the door behind him as his boss waved him in.

"What is it I may do for you?" Mr. Hughes' asks, his face focused on Newt.

"I was wondering if you could give me a week off?" Newt asks tentatively, testing out the waters to see if his boss would agree. "It's for research."

"You know that I always support you on your research ventures, Newt," Mr. Hughes replies. "but sadly, I can't allow you to do it this week."

"What? Why?" Newt moans in disappointment since this was the first time that Mr. Hughes denied him a week off for research. "Mr. Hughes this is really important. It's about the ashwinders that we registered last week. I think I know where to find more of them to study. Please, just give me a week then I'll be back here to help with whatever you need me to do."

"As much as I would love to say yes to you, I still can't allow you a week off," Mr. Hughes replies firmly, locking eyes with Newt so that he would realize how serious he was. "it's not my decision, Newt."

Russel then reaches for a piece of parchment that has been folded into what looked like an airplane. He handed the paper to Newt, telling him to read it. "Your brother requested that I assign you to the case that he just opened a few minutes ago that involves the investigation of the very creatures that you want to study."

Newt reads his brothers note, glaring daggers at the piece of paper, realizing that his brother had just set him up to work alone with Tina until they've solved the case.

"It's a good thing," Mr. Hughes continues, unaware that his prized employee was having an internal battle with himself one what to do to his brother the next time he sees him. "you wanted to study these creatures and you get to do exactly that while helping solve an investigation for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Couldn't you just send someone else to accompany the auror who is investigating the case?" Newt asks, careful not to mention Tina's name so that Russell wouldn't find out that he already knew about the investigation.

"That would be counterproductive, Newt," Mr. Hughes replies matter-of-factly. "you want to learn about these ashwinders, what better way to do so than help investigate why they cause spontaneous fires. Besides, you're the only one in this department who is patient enough to do research about the creatures we register in the department. Even if Theseus didn't ask for you personally, I probably would have sent you to him."

"But…"

"I'm sorry, Newt," Mr. Hughes says with finality. "it's out of my hands. You know that all ministry departments have to cooperate with law enforcement if they need us to. And right now they need us to."

"Okay, thank you sir," Newt says in defeat. "I'll head to the department later today. I have a few paperwork I need to finish."

"Very well. Off you go."

Newt exits Mr. Hughes' office and heads for his own to start on the piles of paperwork he had to get through before he headed back to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Despite having tons of paperwork to get through, Newt was deep in thought about his new assignment. He argued against it because he knew that he would be walking into something that his brother planned out to get him and Tina closer to each other. For some reason, Theseus was intent on making Newt realize that Tina was more than just his friend, his note the day before proved as much.

 _But why would Theseus do that?_ Newt asks himself as the tip of his quill brushed against his skin as he was thinking. _Is he really that desperate to prove a point?_

Newt sighed, realizing that that is exactly something that his brother would do. At least he got assigned to work with someone his was comfortable with, someone who was his friend.

 _And you get to spend more time with Tina._ He thinks to himself, immediately pushing the thought away from his mind.

Newt didn't manage to get through all the paperwork until late in the afternoon. He had been working nonstop he didn't even notice the time. He glanced at the clock in his office and saw that it was almost three in the afternoon when he finished. He groaned when he realized that he was supposed to meet up with Tina about the new case that Theseus had gotten them into a few hours earlier. But because he had so much to do he had forgotten.

"Better late than never," Newt mutters to himself as he waves his wand so that his desk would magically arrange itself. He grabs his coat, shrugs it on, says goodbye to his coworkers, and finally walks to the elevator to head to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

When he arrived at the department's floor, he walked out of the elevator and prayed that he wouldn't run into Theseus on his way to meet Tina. Thankfully the door to his brother's office was closed, which either meant he was too busy to be disturbed or that he wasn't there at all.

Newt walked past Theseus' door and weaved his way through the cubicles in the department to find the familiar spot where Tina's cubicle was.

"Hi, I'm here to help with the ashwinder case that Mr. Scamander just opened up this morning," Newt started to say formally just to mess with Tina when he arrived at her cubicle. "I'm sorry it took me a while, I had some work to get through myself."

"Newt!" Tina exclaims in surprise, standing up almost immediately when she recognized his voice, unable to believe that Theseus had assigned Newt to help her with her first lead auror case. "I didn't know that your brother was assigning someone outside the department to this case."

"Well, he did," Newt replies a little awkwardly, chuckling nervously as he spoke. "and here I am."

"Then why didn't he just ask you to help me when he opened the case earlier today?" Tina asks, her eyes full of curiosity. "After all you were already there."

"Theseus likes to toy with me," Newt answers almost immediately, knowing his brother very well. "I'm used to it."

Tina shakes her head and laughs. She never thought that she would know so much about her boss in just a few weeks working for him, but she guessed that was because she knew his brother.

"So, do you wanna get started on the investigation?" Newt asks, trying to change the subject.

"Actually, I think it's a little late in the day to start investigating at all," Tina replies as she turned to her desk to arrange it. "maybe we should just start planning the investigation first, do a little brainstorming."

Newt nods in agreement, watching as Tina finished arranging her things and grabs her coat.

"C'mon, this place is too small for the both of us," Tina says as she walks past Newt. "I know a place where we can brainstorm."

Tina winked at Newt before she walked towards the elevator. Newt smiled at her antics, knowing her well enough by now to know where she was going to take him. He followed her towards the elevator, a smile on his face. If he had doubts about working closely with Tina earlier that day, it had all disappeared.

"Hey, Newt," Tina says as soon as Newt caught up with her and got in the elevator that only contained the two of them. "I'm glad you got assigned to this case."

Newt smiles at her in appreciation. No one has ever been glad to work with him because of his quirks. It was nice that right now, someone was actually glad to have him on their team.

"I'm a little less nervous about taking the lead in this investigation because I'm working with you," Tina continues, surprising Newt with her words as she looked ahead straight to avoid his gaze.

Newt wraps his arms around her shoulders and pulls her towards him for an awkward side hug. He then squeezes her to reassure her that he would be there to help her succeed in any way. They share a look for a minute before the elevator door opened, breaking the brief intimate moment they were sharing.

Tina stepped out of the elevator first, followed by Newt. They walk past the Fountain of Magical Brethren, which usually greeted all ministry employees as they entered the atrium. They then arrived by the fireplaces that would take them to the ministry employee entrances. They stepped into the fires at the right side of the atrium that would lead them to the exit of the ministry closer to the muggle coffee shop where Tina intended for them to brainstorm. The pair walked beside each in comfortable silence, trying to avoid any talking after what just transpired in the elevator.

When they reached the coffee shop, Newt held out the door to Tina as she stepped in first with him in tow. They shrugged their coats off and immediately lined up to order their drinks. They found a table by the window and chose to plan there so that they would have a view of the neighborhood as they brainstorm. They both laid out their drinks on the table, Tina with a caramel macchiato for a change and Newt with his usual green tea.

Tina teased Newt about the tea yet again and the incident in the elevator was forgotten. They got to work and planned out what they would do in the following days to solve this ashwinder problem. Once their plans were laid out and their drinks consumed, Newt and Tina headed out of the coffee shop, walking over to the corner where Newt usually apparated to when he met Tina for morning drinks when she still lived in the neighborhood. They apparated back into Newt's apartment, with Tina immediately rushing to cook up some dinner for the two of them.

Newt followed Tina as she moved around their apartment with his eyes, shuffling around the kitchen to prepare dinner for the both of them. He smiles at himself, admitting that could get used to having her around here for a while. And a little part of him hoped that she would decide not to leave at all.


	7. Chapter 7: Unfortunate Encounters

" _You know, I never really thought we'd end up here," Tina mumbles shyly as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ears, fully aware of the feel of Newt's hands grasping tightly on her own._

 _Newt turns his head towards her, whispering in reply, "Neither did I, but I'm glad we did."_

 _Newt pulls on Tina's hand, inching her closer to him as he wraps his free arm around her waist. Their foreheads touch lightly before their lips finally met in a searing kiss. Newt pulls away and smiles at Tina, his eyes shining with so much admiration for the woman in front of him._

" _Me too," Tina replies with a smile, her eyes immediately flying back to Newt's lips, eyeing them hungrily._

 _Tina bites her lip, trying to restrain herself from kissing Newt again. He grins at her, amused at how much restrain she was able to muster up before he inches closer towards her to do what Tina had prevented herself from doing. The world seemed to slow down as Newt's face got closer and closer to Tina's. He could feel the ghost of her lips against his, so close yet so far. Only a few inches apart, only a few inches until he would feel Tina's lips against his. So close, if only he could reach them…_

"Newt!"

Newt startles awake as he heard Tina screaming from behind the door of his study, her hand banging against the hardwood that was separating the two of them. He shuffles in the makeshift bed he had transfigured the night before for him to sleep in as he wipes the sleep from his eyes. He groans internally when he realizes that someone had just woken him up from a dream that he was very much enjoying.

"Newt!" Tina exclaims on Newt's door for the third time, banging harder on his door, hoping that the racket would wake up her friend-slash-roommate-slash-coworker-until-the-ashwinder-case-is-solved. "I have been trying to wake you up for an hour now. Get your lazy ass out of bed! We need to get going."

Newt slumps back onto his bed, annoyed that the woman he was just dreaming about kissing was also the one who was responsible for robbing him of the rather enjoyable experience. He sits upright almost immediately, realizing that having those kinds of thoughts about his friend and roommate wasn't exactly good. He knew how it felt to lose a friend, and he didn't really want to lose another one just because he could not help but fall for her.

Newt shakes himself awake, tucking away the dream he just had at the back of his mind, trying to forget about how he wished it could become a reality. Today he and Tina were supposed to be doing some investigating. This wasn't the time for dreaming about anything other than solving this case.

Newt gets up from his makeshift bed, rushes around his study-turned-bedroom and grabbed some fresh clothes from the closet he had in there that was finally put to use since Tina had moved in. He then storms out of his room in haste, completely ignoring Tina out of guilt. The raven-haired auror was sitting by the dining table sipping her morning coffee while glaring daggers at Newt, rather annoyed at him for making the both of them late. She hears the bathroom door close behind her roommate, her annoyance at him finally starting to subside as she heard the familiar sound of the water hitting the bathroom floor.

Newt took a much quicker shower today owing to the fact that he woke up late. He didn't want to earn more of Tina's ire by taking a long shower. So, after he had washed off all of the suds on his body, he exits the bathroom fully clothed and ready to work on solving the case they got assigned to by his meddlesome older brother.

"And here I thought you were the early riser in this house," Tina grins teasingly under her breath, her voice low but loud enough for Newt to hear as she took the last sip of her morning coffee.

Newt smiled at her remark, glad that Tina wasn't the type of person who holds a grudge. She stood up from where she was sitting, dropped the empty cup of coffee she was drinking into the sink before she apparated out of the apartment. A smile formed on Newt's lips before he apparated after Tina, amused at how she didn't even tell him where they were headed because she knew that he already knew the answer to that particular question.

Tina appears at the familiar but empty corner of the street near where she lived before the fire burned down the first place she considered home in London. Newt appears only a few minutes apart from her, landing only a few feet away from where Tina had landed.

Tina gestures for Newt to follow her, clearly already having a plan in place on how they would start their investigation. He doesn't try to argue or ask her what they were going to do, trusting her instincts and capabilities more than he trusted in his own to solve this case. Instead, he hurries after her as she starts to walk towards one of the wizarding shops that she told him about the morning her old building burned down.

From the outside, the shop looked like an ordinary muggle magic shop that it made Newt wonder if Tina was right when she said that wizards were actually the ones running it. Tina glances briefly at Newt before she entered the shop, her new coworker in tow, startled at how loud the bell on top of the door rang, which signaled their arrival.

"Hello?" Tina calls out into the empty shop.

"Yes, yes, what may we do for you dear?" says a voice coming from the back of the shop.

"We're just here to ask about something that might answer some of our questions," Tina answers, not revealing any details of her and Newt's visit.

Newt and Tina hear some banging coming from the back room before they heard a door shut from a distance. The pair of them squinted at the image that was starting to form of a woman who was walking from the back of the shop towards them. Tina smiles at herself when she saw the image of the woman she talked to a few weeks ago about the shop.

"Oy, it's you!" the witch greeted in excitement, smiling brightly at Tina before she started eyeing Newt suspiciously as he started walking around the shop to poke and observe some of the "magical items" that they were supposedly selling. She decided to ignore Newt, turned back to Tina and continued, "I never thought I'd see you again."

"I didn't think so, either," Tina replied politely. "but I have questions that need answering and I figured you'd have the answers."

"Who's the curious fella you have along with you today?" the witch asked, unable to keep her curiosity to herself. "Your boyfriend?"

"N-no, no, no," Tina stammers as she felt herself turn bright red, glad that Newt was too preoccupied trying to figure out what the purpose was of the top hat he was inspecting. "he's just a coworker. We're here to ask you if you'd seen anything suspicious since the fires started around the neighborhood about a week ago?"

"No," the witch answered confidently, shrugging her shoulders. "same as it always has been."

Newt finally decided to quit trying to figure out what the items in the shop were and how they worked and walked back towards Tina and the witch. He looks back innocently at the two women who have apparently started to talk about the real reason they were here today and smiled innocently at both of them. Tina gives him a look, turning her back against the witch and towards him, a message that Newt clearly didn't understand when he gave Tina a confused look in answer.

A little annoyed that someone who had the ability to read her like a book was unable to get her message, Tina turns back to the witch and then back at Newt, giving him a pointed glance, signaling him that it was his turn to ask some questions. It was like a lightbulb had suddenly lit above Newt's head as the realization hit him that Tina needed his help questioning the witch. She wanted him to ask her about possible ashwinder sightings around the shop or maybe nearby.

Newt nod at his partner before turning to the shop owner and asking, "Have you seen any ash trails around the shop lately?"

"Ash trails?" the witch replied, her voice incredulous, not entirely sure how ash trails would be able to help them answer the questions they came to ask her. "What d'you need ash trails for?"

"We found some around one of the buildings that burned down last week," Tina answered, the typical someone-asks-the-other-a-question-I-answer thing going on between her and Newt starting to kick in. "we've learned that whatever is leaving these ash trails behind are what caused the sudden fires that plagued this neighborhood last week."

"Word spread last Sunday that it was just electrical," the witch supplies defensively, something that Tina picked up on almost immediately.

Tina eyes the witch curiously, sensing that there was something that she wasn't telling them. "Surely, you don't believe that?"

The witch stared at Tina silently, avoiding the auror's gaze, confirming her suspicion that the shop owner was indeed hiding something.

"I'm sure you'd have seen the swarm of aurors and obliviators that were around these parts on Saturday," Tina continued, trying to supply more information, hoping that it would help her in her quest for fishing for some answers. "you may live in a muggle neighborhood but you're still a witch. You know how our laws work."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the witch quipped as she starts to fidget nervously.

Tina started to take a step closer to the shop owner, her temper starting to rise since she didn't like to be toyed with and lied to. Her expression changed from smiley and pleasant to serious and determined. But before the auror could grill the shop owner more she heard her name being called by the partner she was assigned with on this case, completely forgetting that he was even there to begin with.

"Tina," Newt calls out from the back room, his voice a little deeper now that it echoed from the back of the shop. "there's a trail of ash here. It's leading out a back door and it seems to have been here a while."

Tina turns back to the witch and glares at her before walking past her and straight to where Newt's voice was originating from. Tina searches for Newt in the wide, open space of the back room, finally walking towards him at the far end of the room as soon as she saw him crouched on the floor. He was observing what Tina guessed was ash because his fingers were already deep in them, stained with the familiar black color of soot as he was trying to make sure that an ashwinder was indeed responsible for this pile of ash.

"Well?" Tina inquires, rushing towards Newt and observing the leftover ash that had stained his fingers.

"Definitely ashwinders," Newt replies in confirmation, locking eyes with her, the pair of them having a silent conversation with each other. "I can't exactly be sure how long ago the ashwinder was here, but I do know that it was definitely left here by one of those creatures."

Tina gave Newt a determined nod before she stormed out of the back door which Newt had already opened and left ajar. She was met by a red brick wall that enclosed the space outside the door, leaving her nowhere to go. At the far-right end of the open space Tina noticed a large pile of ash that she suspected was the ashwinder. Her head immediately searched for the familiar brilliant red eggs that she had encountered the week before, hoping to freeze them before they burst into flames and cause yet another fire. But after much thorough searching through the small confined space, there wasn't a single ashwinder egg in sight.

Newt finally decided to join Tina outside, a part of him hoping that maybe she had spotted a live ashwinder so that he could see one for himself. But to his disappointment he was met by the familiar pile of ash he guessed was the ashwinder he was hoping to observe.

"I don't see any eggs," Tina says to Newt as soon as he reaches her side. She turns to face him and places both her hands on her waist before adding, "if that pile of ash there is a dead ashwinder as I suspect it is, then there should have been eggs around here somewhere. Did you find any sign of eggs inside?"

"Nope," Newt answers as he shakes his head in confirmation. "and the temperature in that room is the same as the rest of the shop, so there couldn't possibly be any ashwinder eggs in there."

"Then, where are they?" Tina questions instinctively, the auror in here trying to figure out why someone would want ashwinder eggs when nothing is known about them yet.

Newt didn't have any answers for Tina, as much as he wish he did. He simply stood there, observing her intently as her face screwed up in concentration, trying to find a reasonable explanation as to the missing ashwinder eggs.

A few minutes later, after thinking long and hard for answers, Tina didn't have the patience to find the answers for herself anymore. She stalked towards the shop again, surprised that the witch didn't follow her or Newt to the back room and get them out of her shop. That wasn't the typical behavior of someone who had something to hide. She reaches the witch in time for her to turn around, a scared look covering the entirety of her face.

"You said you didn't notice anything unusual, not even a trail of ash," Tina states pointedly, a determined look on her face as she locks eyes with the shop owner. "either you are lying to me or you haven't seen what we've just discovered back there. Which is it?"

The witch remained silent, obviously frightened to tell the two investigators what she knew.

"You have to tell me before I report you to the ministry," Tina threatens, her patience with the witch she considered nice the first time they met running thin.

"I-I-I don't know," the witch stammers in reply, the threat of being reported terrifying her even more. "I'm not sure what's real and what's not."

"What?" Tina asks in confusion, her annoyance at the witch starting to ebb when she realizes that she wasn't withholding information on purpose. "What do you mean you're not sure what's real and what's not?"

The witch takes a large gulp, her eyes looking to Tina's left as the image of a disappointed Newt started to make its way back to the shop. Tina turns to look at her partner, her heart breaking a little when she saw the disappointed look on Newt's face at the fact that they didn't find an ashwinder in the shop. She gives him a comforting and reassuring smile before she turns back to the witch, whose eyes had returned to Tina's tall figure.

"I just remember bits and pieces," the witch started to say as Newt finally reaches the two of them and stands beside Tina. "I'm sure that some of the things I remember are real and that some aren't because there are just things that couldn't have happened at the same time at the same place as they do in my memories."

Tina nods, listening intently at the witch, encouraging her to tell them more. Newt crosses his arms against his chest, his interest peaked as the witch continued on with her story.

"I remember being in the back room, checking out stocks of both muggle and magical supplies alike. I usually do that at night, y'know after I finish closing up shop for the day so that I could replenish my supplies for the next day. I also do inventory at night, just to keep on top of things and order supplies that I'm running low on. Once checking and inventory is done, I take out the exact amount of supplies that have been bought from the entire day and place them in a box that I put out at the front of the back room door so that I would remember to arrange them in their respective shelves the following morning. I put the muggle supplies up front where customers could see them and add a few magical supplies to the cupboard below the counter just in case a witch or wizard come around to buy them on that day."

The witch looks from Tina to Newt and then back to Tina again, trying to see if the two investigators were still with her. Lucky for her, both of them didn't have to be anywhere but here for today. So, she urged on.

"But I also remember doing the exact same thing at night, right after I do inventory. Instead of putting the stocks in a box and arranging them the following morning, I remember doing everything the night before. And I don't remember ever having done that in the past. I always check and do inventory at night and restock and replenish in the morning. That's the way it has always been with me and my shop since I set it up five years ago."

Tina takes in the information that was just given to her and tries to explain how it would be connected to the missing ashwinder eggs and how it would explain why the witch was lying to her. Her confusion must have been evident on her face because the shop owner continued to tell her more about the bits and pieces that she remembers, the bits and pieces of her memory that she wasn't sure was real or not, hoping that anything from what she remembers would help absolve her of any crime she could or could not be committing.

"I also remember seeing two or three men at the wee hours of dawn, even before I've opened the shop. They seem to have appeared out of nowhere and I don't know any of them, have never met them before. I could hear their voices, but I can't make out what they're saying. And then sometimes I see wands being flourished by the men I just described. I see them cast spells and then flashes of white flying out of their wands. I can't see what exactly they're trying to spell but they're definitely pointing at something."

At the mention of wands and white flashes, Newt and Tina simultaneously looked at each other, another one of their silent communications ensuing.

"You don't think…?" Tina asks moments later, trailing off at the end of the question as soon as Newt interjected.

"They must've been freezing the ashwinder eggs," Newt interjects, answering Tina's unfinished question even before she could finish asking it.

"That's the only explanation as to why we couldn't find any of them here despite the trails of ash by the back door and the pile of ash outside," Tina adds as she nods in agreement with Newt.

"I'm sorry," the witch interrupted the pair of them, her eyes flicking from one to the other. "but what is an ashwinder?"

"For now, it's something you need not concern yourself with," Tina replies, a finality evident in her tone which took the shop owner by surprise. "how long has your memory been this foggy?"

Realization hit the shop owner as she muttered in reply, "A week."

"It's definitely ashwinders," Newt says matter-of-factly, all of the facts that he and Tina had gathered from last week and today finally falling into place.

"Yes, definitely," Tina confirms before she turns to the witch and says, "thank you for the information you just shared it has been very helpful."

"Glad to help," the witch replied half-heartedly as she watched Newt and Tina walk towards the front door of the shop.

"I would really appreciate it if you didn't change anything from your routine," Tina says, turning back to the witch and plastering a reassuring look on her face. "do what you normally did before your memory started to get confusing."

"Do you think that whoever you're after is modifying my memory to hide these _'ashwinders'_ as you call them?" the witch asked, a little annoyed and terrified that someone was using her and her livelihood for their own gain.

"Either that or they've confunded you so that you would believe that you did everything at night and not the way you usually do it," Tina confirms with a nod. "which is why I need you to stick to your routine. If someone is indeed trying to convince you that you're running your shop differently from the way you have been running it for years, it means they're trying to hide something from you that could get them caught."

The witch nods, understanding why Tina had just act her to stick to her routine.

"I need you to stick to your routine so that they don't expect that we're onto them," Tina continues, eyeing the shop owner hoping that the look would get the witch on their side. "hopefully we'll be able to resolve this as soon as possible and get you back to running your shop without someone using you and it for their own personal gain."

Tina smiles warmly at the witch, her feeling of distrust towards the shop owner completely gone.

"Okay, I will."

Tina reaches out for the shop owner and squeezes her hand in reassurance before she exits the store with Newt right behind her, muttering a silent goodbye to the store owner.

The two of them walk over to the only place they both knew they could plan out what to do next without being disturb. The walked in comfortable silence towards their coffee shop, Newt later holding out the door for Tina like he has done countless times before, allowing her to step inside the familiar space of the coffee shop that was responsible for the two of them being friends before he followed her in tow.

"You go find a table where we could hopefully talk and not be heard or disturbed," Newt instructs Tina as they both started to shrug off their coats. "I'll order."

"How would you even know what I'd be getting?" Tina asked immediately as she unwraps the scarf she was wearing.

"Tina, you've been ordering the same thing since we met," Newt replies, an amused smirk plastered all over his face. "it would be a surprise if I still didn't know what to get you every time we step into this coffee shop."

Tina smirks back at him, raising one of her eyebrows at him in challenge. She relents and walks to the back of the café to find them seats as Newt orders for them.

Newt later appears with their drinks on a tray with two croissants, one for him and one for Tina.

"One black with two sugars," he says proudly as he hands Tina her coffee before taking the seat right in front of her.

Tina smiles in amusement and helps remove the pastries from the tray and rolls her eyes at Newt's cup of tea. "And of course, tea for you."

"Naturally," Newt replies playfully, bowing his head as he takes his cup in hand.

Tina laughs before she takes a sip from the coffee Newt had just ordered her. "I just realized that this would be my second cup of coffee this morning. I had one back home."

Newt looks up and locks eyes with Tina, a warmth starting to spread throughout him when he heard her refer to his place as 'home'.

"You know, when I was waiting for you to get your ass out of bed," Tina teased, taking sips of coffee and munching on her croissant in between teasing her friend.

"I'm sorry about that," Newt apologized profusely. "I just didn't feel like waking up early today."

"Must have been a really good dream if it kept Mr. Early Riser from rising early," Tina says casually, completely oblivious to the fact that she had just guessed the exact reason why he woke up late that morning.

"What makes you think it was because of a dream?" Newt asks, trying to slow down his heartrate which had started to rise when he heard Tina talk about dreaming.

"Someone I knew used to use that as an excuse to sleep in," Tina replied, a hint of sadness laced in her voice.

Newt had to bite his tongue to prevent himself from asking to whom she was referring to. He knew by the tone of her voice that this was something that she wasn't ready to share with him, at least not yet.

"So, about the case," Newt says, changing the topic of the conversation. "it's safe to assume that someone has been creating ashwinders in this neighborhood so they could harvest their eggs."

Tina nodded. "And they've been trying hard to hide them from the wizards that live in the neighborhood."

"But why?" Newt asked. "What would anyone need ashwinder eggs for?"

"I don't know," Tina replies, unsure for the first time since starting the case. "you're the magical creatures expert here. Aren't you supposed to be the one with all the answers?"

"I wish I did," Newt replies sadly, disappointed in himself that he couldn't help further the case because of his lack of knowledge on the ashwinders. "but the department doesn't have information on ashwinders yet. All we know about them is what we've found out so far."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Tina reassures him as she squeezes his hand from across the table. "we'll find a live ashwinder soon and you'll be able to get the answers we need to solve this case."

Newt smiles thankfully at her before he asks, "How do we do that exactly?"

"From what the witch at the shop has told us, someone has been modifying her memory to make her believe that she does everything she needs to do for her shop at night," Tina starts, her analytical auror training skills starting to kick in. "which means that she caught whoever those three wizards in her memory were at dawn. They modified her memory so that she'd forget she ever caught them freezing those ashwinder eggs and stealing them."

Newt nods, all the pieces of the witch's story finally falling into place. One thing bugged Newt, though, so he asked, "but how would an ashwinder be created at the backroom of a magic shop? They only spring from magical fires that have been left unchecked. I didn't see any proof of a magical fire being ignited anywhere in that room."

"Maybe not in that room specifically," Tina interjects, realizing that she noticed a fireplace a few feet away from the counter. "there was a fireplace close to the counter of the shop, but I saw firewood."

"Which means that she wasn't using magical fire to keep the store warm," Newt continues as soon as the implications of Tina's statement became clear to him. "so, she isn't responsible for the creation of the ashwinders in her shop."

"No, she isn't," Tina replies with conviction. "she looked shaken when we were talking about ashwinders, like she didn't know what we were talking about. She doesn't know anything about ashwinders, much less how to create them. Maybe the men in her visions are the ones responsible. They could've started the magical fire as soon as she closed the shop and left immediately after so that she won't notice they were even there."

"Maybe one of them even posed as a customer," Newt offers in explanation.

"Yes!" Tina exclaims in excitement, almost spilling coffee on herself. "She doesn't realize that the fire that's keeping the shop warm later that night is a magical one, after all if it keeps you warm why bother asking where it came from right?"

"Right," Newt agrees with a nod. "and she leaves the shop with the fire burning because that's how she always left the shop after closing up. She leaves the fire burning by the fireplace because it always dies on its own by the time all the firewood she placed in there burns up."

"But since last week the fires have never stopped burning because they were magical," Tina explains even further, her and Newt's theory about how the shop and the ashwinders fit into the case slowly making sense. "she never notices it because the men coming in to steal the eggs must have put them out by the time ashwinders spring from them before she opens up. And then one morning they ran a little late, which is when the owner noticed the fire still burning, helping her catch the three men while they were freezing the eggs at the back of the shop."

"That's when they modified her memory," Newt says with finality. "or confunded her, like you said."

Tina nods, munching on the half-eaten croissant in front of her. She grimaces, one part of the case still not making sense. "I wish we knew more about these ashwinders. It's the only way we could find out how to deal with these mysterious men."

"I could gather all I could about them," Newt says in determination. "if only I could find a live subject to observe. I could get you the information that would piece together this case."

Newt sipped his tea after his statement, trying to think of how he could get his hands on a live ashwinder when Tina had a light bulb moment.

"Are you up for a late-night stakeout?" she asks Newt as soon as the plan she hatched inside her brain fell into place.

 _Definitely, if it's with you._ Newt says to himself. He shakes himself, plastering an adamant expression on his face to prevent Tina from suspecting how excited he was at the prospect of a late-night stakeout with her, before asking, "Why?"

"We're gonna get you a live ashwinder, that's why," Tina remarks with a little mischief in her eyes.

* * *

Newt tiptoes behind Tina as lightly as he could. Despite having zero auror training, Newt was light on his feet. Being someone who had to study magical creatures in their natural habitat, Newt was skilled when it came to not being seen.

"You're pretty good at this, Scamander," Tina remarks playfully as she pushes the door to the backroom of the magic shop.

Newt chuckles from behind, following his friend into the backroom and shutting the door behind him. "So, we're just gonna wait here?"

"Yep," Tina replies with a nod. "we're going to wait for those three men to show up and ask them some questions."

"And you think they're going to show up tonight?" Newt inquires, a little doubtful that Tina's plan would work. "Wouldn't they suspect that someone knows what they're doing?"

"I don't think they suspect anything," Tina replies matter-of-factly. "at least not yet. The owner of the shop kept her word and stuck to her routine. They wouldn't suspect a thing."

Newt nodded, deciding to trust Tina on this one considering she was the one with experience when it came to solving cases like this.

"So, what do we do now?"

Tina pulls out what looked like a blanket from the pocket of her new coat and laid it on the floor before saying, "Now we wait."

She sits on the floor on top of the blanket she had just laid there, taking Newt by surprise at how ready she was for a stakeout that neither of them even planned on having until a few hours earlier.

"Do you always bring a spare blanket with you in cases like this?" Newt asks curiously, unable to help himself and his curiosity.

"Always," Tina replies coyly, winking at Newt before tucking her hand inside her coat pocket again and pulling a smaller blanket from it and showing it to him. "I brought a spare, in case it gets a little too chilly."

"I don't suppose you brought something to eat for this stakeout?" Newt jokes, challenging Tina and her coat full of stakeout supplies.

Tina doesn't disappoint. She tucks her hand again inside her coat and conjures a paper bag that left Newt dumbfounded.

"Don't worry, these weren't in there since we left," Tina says in reassurance. "I bought us some sandwiches at the coffee shop before we left. I figured we needed food if we're going to stay in a dusty backroom all night."

"You're amazing," Newt comments, amazement not absent from his voice, his eyes wide in awe. "You know that right?"

Tina shrugs at the compliment. "All in a day's work."

Newt smiles before he sits on the blanket beside Tina, taking the sandwich she offered him as soon as he was on the floor. They munched on the sandwiches side-by-side, talking about the case in between bites.

As soon as their bellies were filled, Newt and Tina started to plan their mode of attack. They both agreed that it would best if Tina did all the questioning when the mystery men showed up to harvest the ashwinder eggs. Newt was to position himself behind the closed door of the back room in preparation for the appearance of the ashwinder he was so anxious to study. As soon as the ashwinder pops into the room, Newt will follow and study the creature and observe it until it lays its eggs. Tina will be on the lookout for anything suspicious as Newt does his part of the job.

"Hopefully, we'll get everything we need on the ashwinders and their eggs before the mystery men show up to take them," Tina says finally as their plan was set.

Newt nods at Tina in agreement before walking out of the room to check on the fire that they saw burning when they entered the shop before it closed earlier to talk to the owner about their plan. He returns to the room as Tina as fixing the blanket where they were going to sit on as they wait for a live ashwinder and the mystery men they were anxious to question.

"That's definitely a magical fire over there," Newt says as he enters the room, pointing his wand at the door indicating the fireplace just beyond it. "there's no more firewood but it's still burning."

"Then it's set," Tina replies with conviction. "they are going come again tomorrow at dawn to harvest their ashwinder eggs. Let's hope we get some answers before they leave."

Tina finally finished fussing over the blanket and sat down. She patted the empty space beside her, signaling Newt to take it, which he did. The pair of them sat silently beside one another, listening to the faraway burning of the fire from outside and the draft that was running inside the shop. Tina started to shiver, wrapping her arms around herself when she felt the cold air brush against her skin.

"For a building that has a magical fire to keep it warm, this place sure is freezing," Tina comments as she grabs the spare blanket she brought with her and covers herself up.

She realizes that she might not be the only one that was freezing so she turned to face Newt, who was now also shivering from where he was sitting. Feeling a little guilty for her selfishness, Tina scoots closer to Newt, leaning against his strong shoulders and wrapping the small piece of cloth around the two of them.

"Sorry, I didn't grab a larger blanket to wrap ourselves with," Tina says apologetically as she inches closer and closer to Newt so that the blanket would cover the both of them.

"It's fine," Newt replies, his senses on high alert, aware of how close he and Tina were in that moment.

Tina smiles weakly, feeling a tingling sensation where her and Newt's bodies touched. She ignored it as hard as she could, eventually leaning in towards Newt and resting her head against his shoulders. They sat in silence, wrapped up in a small blanket to keep the both of them warm as they wait to confront the strangers who were responsible for burning down several buildings in this previously peaceful muggle neighborhood, eventually falling into a dreamless sleep beside one another.

* * *

Tina woke up first. She heard a rustling past the backroom door that was left ajar to allow the ashwinders to enter. She sat up as soon as she heard the heavy patter of boots, realizing that both she and Newt fell asleep waiting for the ashwinders to spring from the fire. Tina's sudden movement had woken up Newt, whose head was rested on top of her own when they dozed off.

"Damn it," Tina cursed silently at the realization that both Newt and herself had failed to carry out the plan they had laid out the night before.

Tina gets to her feet almost immediately, leaving Newt scrambling to stand up for himself in search for the ashwinders he was supposed to be observing. They both rushed to the back door they've been through the day before, where they found a trail of ash and an empty nest of ashwinder eggs.

A hooded figure was standing outside the door, towering over the nest they found the day before, his hand raised in preparation to cast a freezing spell. Tina blocks the doorway, preventing Newt from going out to search for a live ashwinder as soon as she realized that the hooded figure could be one of the men they were waiting to interrogate. She raises her wand to stupefy her opponent, but she was too late.

"Someone else is here!" Tina could hear a voice say from inside the building.

"But how? We just saw that stupid witch close up and leave." says another voice from inside the shop.

"Just go. Leave the eggs, we'll come back for them tomorrow." Says the hooded figure, who had just turned around and noticed Tina raising her wand.

Newt and Tina heard cracks from inside the building and one right in front of them. Newt ran inside, hoping that he could catch one of the men before they disapparated but was met by an empty room. Tina turned back to stupefy the hooded figure outside the door but was met only by a nest full of hot, brilliant red ashwinder eggs. She sighs in disappointment before she points her wand at the eggs and freezes them.

Tina picks up the eggs she had just froze and starts to walk inside, carrying the frozen eggs with her in one hand. Newt met her halfway, one of his hands filled with his own batch of frozen ashwinder eggs, the same look of disappointment on Tina's face painted all over his own.

"We lost them," Tina states in disappointment, starting to hand Newt the ashwinder eggs she had successfully frozen.

"At least we got these," Newt replies in encouragement, raising his hand to indicate the eggs they managed to collect. "I could study these for now. If they're making ashwinders for their eggs, these may be what they need and not the ashwinders themselves."

Tina nodded, her lips pressed in a tight line.

"I blew it," Tina says disapprovingly. "I fell asleep and I blew it."

"We both did," Newt added, placing the frozen ashwinder eggs in his coat pocket before squeezing Tina's shoulder in reassurance. "I was supposed to stay awake and catch an aswinder in time for it to lay its eggs, but I didn't."

"Let's go," Tina says. "we won't find anything more useful here anyway."

Newt wanted to comfort her and tell her that they will, but she simply walked past him, her shoulders slumped in defeat that all he could do was collect the blankets they had left scattered on the floor before he followed her out of the shop and back home.

The moment their feet touched the floor of their apartment, neither Newt or Tina said a word. They simply parted ways and walked straight into their separate rooms without uttering a single word to the other, defeated that they blew their cover and possibly the only lead they had.

* * *

Newt wakes up at one in the afternoon. After he and Tina arrived home after their failed attempt at getting answers, they both went into their rooms and immediately fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. They were both exhausted from their late-night stakeout, even with the short nap they both managed to take while waiting for their targets.

Newt rushes out of his study as soon as he woke up in search for Tina. He didn't bother to knock on the door to her bedroom. He simply wrenched open the door but was met by an empty bed that was very well made. Disappointed, Newt walked to the kitchen, closing the door to Tina's room and finding a note that she left for him on the table.

 _Heading to work, need to report what happened to your brother. I'll be back for dinner. – T_

Newt reread Tina's letter a dozen of times until he memorized it by heart. It didn't give any indication that he needed to report to the ministry himself, so he decided that he would spend the remainder of his afternoon locked in his study to gather more information on the ashwinder eggs that he and Tina had managed to collect earlier that day. He locked himself up in his study and carefully took one ashwinder egg from his coat pocket and started to write down as much as he could about the egg in its frozen state.

Later that afternoon, Newt had decided that it would be a good idea to bring the eggs to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for documentation and safe keeping. He took the floo network and arrived at the ministry just in time to run into Tina who was just about to head home.

"Newt!"

"Tina!"

They both exclaimed at the exact same moment.

"I didn't think you were coming in today," Tina adds. "what with the disaster that happened earlier."

"I wasn't planning to," Newt replied. "but I decided that these eggs are better off here at the ministry than at home where someone could steal them. You never know who could follow us while we investigate."

Tina nodded, her expression hard to read.

"Are you headed home?" Newt asks, trying to break the ice.

"I was about to when I ran into you," Tina replies with a smile, which made Newt relax a little. "I could wait for you if you want."

"No, you go ahead," Newt says, knowing that Tina might want to get some rest after the day she had. "I might go and look at some archives at the department anyway. Maybe I'll find something that could help us with the case."

"Are you even allowed to stay in that late?" Tina asks almost immediately, unsure if the ministry was even open after six in the evening.

"Only when it's important," Newt replies with an innocent smile. "and this _is_ important. I guess."

"Okay, I'll see you later then."

Tina gives Newt a smile before she walks to the fireplace that would take her home. Newt follows her with her eyes until the last tongue of flame disappeared from the fireplace that Tina had stepped into. He then walked the familiar halls that led to the department he had been working for almost three years now to surrender the frozen ashwinder eggs that he had in his possession.

After stopping by his boss' office to drop of the ashwinder eggs, Newt stopped by the room beside the offices that contained the archives of all the creatures that their department had registered and studied so far. He combed through every piece of paper and every single manuscript he could find, hoping that in one of them would lie even just a tiny bit of information about ashwinders, their eggs, and how they were even used. But much to Newt's dismay, he found nothing. Defeated he returned all the papers and manuscripts he read back to where they belonged and started to get ready to get home when he realized something.

" _Just go. Leave the eggs, we'll come back for them tomorrow."_

The voice of the hooded figure echoed in his mind, his words as clear as day. Newt decided that he was going back tonight. Maybe, just maybe, the mysterious men would continue trying to breed ashwinders, which means he could finally see one in the flesh that he could observe. He rushes out of the room containing the archives and back to his office. He then finds his way over to his desk, walking hastily towards it before he starts to scribble a note addressed to Tina in a very messy script as soon as he reached it. He decided to send Tina a note just to make sure she knew where she was in case she went looking for him. It was late after all. He folded the piece of parchment and tied it to the claw of an owl that was perched by his desk.

As soon as the letter was secure, the owl went off to deliver the letter to Tina while Newt apparated directly into the corner street near the magic shop. He didn't realize how late it was until he saw that one of the baristas of the coffee shop he and Tina loved so much was closing up the said shop. Newt frowned when he realized he would be able to get himself some coffee to keep him awake but decided that he was far too excited to see an actual ashwinder to fall asleep at all. So, he walked towards the magic shop and apparated into the premises, directly into the back room where he and Tina stayed last night while waiting for their targets.

Thankful that he grabbed the blankets Tina had brought the day before and tucked them into his coat pocket, Newt extracted the larger of the two blankets and used it to wrap himself up despite the heat that was radiating from the fire burning outside as he waited patiently for an ashwinder, part of him dreading the idea of having to face the hooded figure from the day before if they did decide to come back.

A few hours passed and Newt realized that it was getting colder, so he decided to check on the fire that was supposed to burning outside. As soon as he reached the door of the back room he heard the floorboards creak behind him which prompted him to turn around.

"You!" the man behind him exclaimed, immediately grabbing hold of Newt and tying his hands up behind him. "You were one of those aurors here yesterday."

"Didn't come with your pretty little partner, did you?" a man in front of him commented as Newt squinted in the darkness to make out the face of his captors, struggling to free his hands from the invisible rope that was now binding them. "I'd preferred to have kidnapped her."

Before Newt could protest or whip up his wand, he was covered and put inside a human sized burlap sack as he struggled to get himself free. Newt continues to struggle inside the sack, hoping that his movements would add more weight to his lanky form, which would help him free himself.

"No point in trying to get free lad," the third man says as he was knotting the top of the sack with Newt in it. "we got yah this time."

Newt felt himself being hoisted up and carried on the shoulders of his three captors. He tried to scream for help but couldn't do it through the gag that his captors had placed beforehand. He tried to search the sack he was in for his wand, hoping to get his hands on it so he could free himself, but he couldn't find it anywhere. Then, he heard the familiar sound of wood rolling on wood and realized that in his effort to get himself loose he had dropped his wand, leaving himself weaponless and defenseless. All the blood had drained from his face when the realities of the situation he was in finally sunk in.

 _Who are these people? Where are the taking me?_ Newt thought to himself. His mind was racing, trying to find a way to get himself free. He thought of Tina, he thought about how worried she would be if she wouldn't be able to find him the following day.

 _Don't be daft. She probably wouldn't notice._

His thoughts went back to the dream he had the day before, the dream that he had tucked away in the depths of his subconscious. How he wished that was the situation and the moment that he was living in right now instead of being kidnapped and taken to god knows where. He kept struggling to get free that his captors eventually got annoyed and hit him softly in the head to make him stop. All he could remember after that was the searing pain that coming from the back of his head. He started to feel dizzy, his vision clouded by black spots, with only one thought in his head: _At least Tina's safe._

* * *

A/N: Okay, first of all I am so sorry for the late update. Just been really busy this past month. Secondly, I hope you liked this chapter. I know there's a lot going on, but I promise there's a point to all this torture. Lastly, I got questions about Newt's case, Queenie, and Jacob, and I know that those three things are important to Newt and are part of his character in the movies but this is an AU, it's not set in the canon universe and I've tweaked a few things in Newt's (and Tina's) character to fit the plot of the story. Despite all of that, I hope you guys still enjoy reading this fic as much as I enjoy writing it. As always, let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8: A Missing Scamander

A/N: Hey everyone. Here's another update for this universe. It's pretty short and I know it's criminal that I make you wait a month for updates and they end up rather short. However, I still hope you enjoy this chapter despite it being short. I'll try to upload the next one in the next few days because the next chapter is halfway written. :)

* * *

Tina wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go to work today. She laid on her bed, her back flat on the soft mattress that Newt had offered her to sleep in ever since the fire. She stared blankly at the ceiling, wondering if Newt was feeling the same amount of discouragement she was feeling right now.

 _Newt._ She thinks to herself, as a thankful sigh escaped her lips. Memories of the weeks past started to flood into her mind: the first time they met, their _friendly_ date, the fire, him taking her in, the case. She would never have guessed that all of those things would happen to her in the span of a month since she had moved to London and made it her new home.

As her reminiscing reached their failed attempt to solve their case, Tina realized that she hasn't seen Newt since they ran into each other at the ministry the day before. She remembered waiting for him the night before in the living room until she decided that she was too sleepy to wait for him to return from his attempt at gathering more information on ashwinders despite them being newly discovered.. So, she shuffled off to her bedroom, leaving some leftovers for him at the dinner table in case he came home hungry.

Despite her sour mood, Tina decided to get out of bed. She walks out of her room towards the living room and saw the dinner that she had left for Newt completely untouched. She walks over to the dinner table and takes the plate she left sitting there and dumps its contents in the trash a little bitterly. She then walked towards the study where Newt had been sleeping in since she came to live with him and wrenched the door open, not bothering to knock out of annoyance.

"The least you could do if you're not gonna eat the dinner I laid out for you is put it in the refrigerator, so it won't get spoiled," Tina mutters angrily into an empty room, waving the now empty plate in the air.

Shock flooded Tina's entire being when she realized that the man she was reprimanding wasn't there to hear a piece of her mind.

"Newt?" Tina calls out into the small, cramped room before turning back to the living room, even though she knew he wasn't there.

 _He didn't come home last night._ Tina thought when she realized that Newt's makeshift bed looked untouched.

Tina walked back to the living room and noticed a small piece of parchment lying on the table. An owl must have delivered it the night before while she was sleeping. Tina walked up to the living room table where the letter was situated and picked it up, unfolding it hastily and reading the message that had been written messily on it.

 _I won't be home tonight, I'm following a lead. I'll stop by your office tomorrow to let you know what I find out. – N_

Tina rereads the letter one more time before she decided that she really had to go to work today to meet Newt. She then moves to fold the paper and tucks it into one of the many pockets of her coat before proceeding to take a bath and head to work, a little annoyed at Newt for robbing her of the opportunity to skip work today.

* * *

Tina arrives at the ministry less than an hour later, her heart not into the idea of working. She walks unenthusiastically to her cubicle and starts reading a few files she had on her current case with Newt to pass the time.

While reading and rereading all that she had on the case, a light knock echoed from outside her cubicle. Tina looked up and was greeted by a tired looking Shacklebolt.

"Haven't seen you since you got a new case assigned to you," he remarked. "how's that going?"

"Bad," Tina replied bluntly, huffing in disappointment. "really bad. At this rate I'd rather be assigned to your case, at least you guys have more leads than we do."

Shacklebolt chuckles at his colleague. "I heard you got assigned Newt Scamander. Weird fellow, isn't he?"

"He's okay," Tina answers casually, stopping herself from defending her friend in front of her colleague at the risk of revealing how close they were. She didn't want Shacklebolt or any of the other aurors to think she landed her first lead on a case because she was friends with the boss' brother. "he's been pretty helpful so far. I'm actually waiting for a report from him."

"Hey, Shacklebolt!" another auror exclaimed from the entrance of the department. "C'mon we've got to visit one of the locations for the case."

"I'm coming!" Shacklebolt shouts in reply. He turns back to Tina and gave her a sincere smile, "I hope you solve your case soon. We really need you on the potion smuggling case. After all, you were the one who got the intel on these locations we're tracking now."

Tina smiled thankfully at Shacklebolt, happy that her colleague appreciated her dedication and skill on the work they do. "I'll try. I'm really curious about that case as well. I'd like to be there when it gets solved."

Shacklebolt gave her a smile and a salute before leaving, following his fellow auror out of the department and leaving Tina alone in her cubicle again. She was sick of rereading the files she had on the ashwinder case, knowing that she won't get anything more out of the files because she already had all the facts she needed. She decided that she needed new information and that the only person who had that information was Newt.

So, Tina got up from her desk and started to walk out of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and down to Newt's department, hoping to find her partner on this case and get the new information that he had promised he would share with her today.

Tina reaches the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and greeted the head of the department cheerily. Mr. Hughes simply smiled and nodded at Tina and asked, "What brings you to our corner of the ministry today, Miss – uh – "

"Goldstein," she supplied.

"Yes, Miss Goldstein."

"I was wondering if Newt Scamander is here?" Tina asked immediately. "He said he'd get me some new leads for the ashwinder case."

"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen Mr. Scamander come in today," Mr. Hughes replied, a puzzled look on his face. "I thought he was with you doing some sort of investigation on the case you just mentioned."

"No, sir," Tina says a little nervously. "I ran into him yesterday by the entrance where told me he was going to do some research on the creatures we're looking for. He told me he was hoping he'd find some information in your archives."

Tina decided to omit telling Mr. Hughes about the letter she got from Newt about not coming home. She didn't want her coworkers or any of Newt's to come to the wrong conclusion regarding their friendship.

"Yes, that was the last I saw of him was yesterday as well, when he came to deposit those eggs for our archives," Mr. Hughes says as he points at the frozen ashwinder eggs that were placed in a glass case that looked like one of the artifacts in a museum.

"And you haven't seen him since?" Tina inquired one last time, her auror instincts kicking in while her mind raced with theories and scenarios that would explain where Newt could have possibly gone and where he could possibly be right now.

"No."

"Okay, thank you, sir," Tina says hurriedly, rushing out of the department and leaving a stunned Mr. Hughes staring after her.

 _Where could Newt possibly be?_ Tina asks herself, her mind racing as she was trying to figure out what to do next. She had half a mind to go immediately to Theseus and tell him that Newt was missing. But she knew that her boss would have a lot of questions that she didn't have the answers to. Aside from the fact that she didn't want to make a fool out of herself in front of her boss by jumping to conclusions, she also didn't want to be the one to tell him that she had been living with his brother for two weeks now.

 _I think I'll head to the shop first._ Tina decides, realizing that Newt might have headed there first because that would be the most likely place where he could find a live ashwinder. She knew that he had wanted to see one for himself ever since they started working on the case.

Tina exits the ministry through the visitor's exit, not bothering to use the floo network to head back home. She finds a secluded corner where she disapparated to the familiar corner of the street near her old residence. She wasted no time and rushed to the magic shop that she and Newt had been to two days before.

Tina rushed into the shop, pushing the front door more forcefully than she had intended. The owner of the shop, the witch that she and Newt had interrogated two days before was shocked at the sight of the auror she thought she would never see again.

"By any chance, have you seen my partner yesterday or earlier this morning?" Tina asked as soon as she entered the store, ignoring the shock that was etched all over the store owner's face.

"You mean the curious looking fellow with floppy hair and freckles?" the witch asked in reply, still shocked at Tina's sudden outburst. "No, I haven't seen him since the last time you two came to ask me questions about my shop."

"Can I look out back?" Tina asked worriedly, panic starting to spread throughout her entire body at the idea of a missing Newt.

"Sure," the witch nodded half-heartedly, her gaze following a worried Tina as she walked towards the back room that she and Newt had searched for ash trails and where they had fallen asleep while waiting for their targets to arrive and snatch the ashwinder eggs they managed to retrieve.

Tina searched the empty space, hoping that she would find something that would tell her that Newt had indeed came back to the shop to do the investigating he talked about in his letter. She hoped that she would find something, mostly because she knew if she didn't find anything of Newt's here that she had no idea where he would have gone.

At first, she didn't find anything. The room looked empty to her. No trails of ash or nests to lay eggs with, which meant that the three mysterious men they had encountered two days before haven't returned to make more ashwinders. Tina was almost going to give up when she noticed something behind the door of the room. She hadn't noticed it when she entered because she was too busy trying to search for trails of ash and nests.

When she realized what it was dread started to fill her. She crouched down to pick up Newt's wand, a confirmation that he was indeed here the night before. Her heart was pounding inside her chest as the realization that Newt had been kidnapped finally started to settle. There was no way that he would have left his wand lying around if he was doing some investigating.

And then she remembered hearing the mysterious men say that they were coming back for the eggs they had left behind. Tina groaned, finally realizing that it was them that took Newt and that she had no way of locating them and her kidnapped friend. She was sure neither of the three men were coming back, they wouldn't return to a place that had already been compromised.

Tina exits the room immediately, Newt's wand in hand. She stops by the counter to thank the owner of the shop for allowing her to search the shop one more time. She then tucked Newt's wand into one of her pockets and rushed out of the shop, unable to stop thinking of how she was going to deal with the situation she was facing right now. She didn't know where to start or even how to locate Newt. They haven't exactly gotten far as to identify who it was responsible for all those fires and the ashwinders. She had nothing.

Her mind was racing, trying to come up with a plan that didn't sound entirely crazy as she walked as fast as she could towards the ministry. She was too preoccupied with planning how to save Newt that she couldn't focus enough to apparate back. She reached the entrance of the ministry a mere minutes later and had finally decided on what to do. She flushed herself down the toilets that ministry employees used every day to go to work, ignoring how gross the process was. She then walked past ministry employees who were just getting in, bumping into a few of them and not even turning back to apologize. She was so concerned about finding Newt and getting him back that nothing else seemed to matter at that moment. She rushed into the elevators leading to the different departments of the ministry, her face etched with so much worry.

Tina had finally reached the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Her eyes immediately flew to the closed door that led to the office of Theseus Scamander. She walked towards the door, placed her hand on the doorknob and wrenched the thing open, not even bothering to knock.

"Newt is missing," she exclaims as soon as she gets inside. "we need to find him right away."

"Excuse me?" Theseus replies, a little shocked at Tina's sudden and unannounced arrival in his office.

"Newt is missing," Tina says again, her eyes so full of concern that it took Theseus by surprise. "I think he's been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Theseus asks, his face contorting into a confused expression. "What makes you think that my brother has been kidnapped, Goldstein?"

"He hasn't shown up to work today," Tina says initially, thinking about the letter she got earlier that day that Newt had written telling her that he would meet her there. "he was supposed to give me a report on new information that he supposedly gathered from his late night investigating."

"That doesn't mean he's missing, Goldstein," Theseus said nonchalantly, returning his attention to the file he had been reading before Tina entered his office unannounced.

"He didn't come home last night," Tina finally admitted to her boss with a panic laced in her voice, all her intentions of keeping her living arrangements a secret from him flying out the window. "last I saw him was before I headed home yesterday. I ran into him at the entrance of the ministry where he told me he was staying late to check the archives they had on magical creatures. I tried to wait for him to come home but it was getting late, so I turned in. When I woke up this morning I found this letter in the living room saying that he decided to do some late-night investigating by himself."

Tina pulled out the letter that Newt had written her, the one she had tucked inside the pocket of her coat earlier that day and handed the letter to Theseus. The auror inspected the letter, read and reread the message that his little brother had left his friend and turned back to Tina, waiting for her to tell him more.

"He said he would meet me here to tell me about what he had found out, but he never showed," Tina continues, rambling on, completely ignoring the curious look that Theseus was now giving her. "I went to his department in the hopes of getting the information from him there, but Mr. Hughes said that he never even showed up for work today."

Theseus started to open his mouth, hoping to say something that could be useful in between Tina's hysterical rants but she didn't allow him to, she continued her monologue.

"So, I decided to head back the magic shop that we went to when we started our investigation, the one I told you about yesterday," Theseus nodded and allowed her to continue speaking, realizing that there was no way to interrupt her now. "and then I found this."

Tina pulls out Newt's wand from one of the pockets in her coat and shoved it in Theseus' face. "I'm telling you sir, he's been kidnapped. And we need to find him."

Theseus takes his brother's wand from Tina, inspecting the piece of wood in his hands carefully. "Hmm."

"Well?" Tina asked impatiently, a little annoyed at how calm her boss was despite the knowledge that his brother has been kidnapped. "Shouldn't we do something?"

"You need to calm down, Goldstein," Theseus said coolly as he tucked his brother's wand into the top drawer of his desk.

"Calm down?!" Tina exclaims, her anger starting to rise. "How can you even think of calming down when your brother is missing?"

Theseus stifled a chuckle, amused at Tina's reaction. "Because panicking in situations like this won't solve anything."

Theseus' words finally managed to calm Tina down, making her realize how crazy she must have looked and sounded in front of her boss. She blushed in embarrassment, unable to muster an apology at how she had been acting towards him since she entered his office.

"I think you should continue on with your case," Theseus says after a few moments of contemplating. "It would do you some good if you didn't have to worry about my brother. I'll handle it from here."

"But sir, I could help find him," Tina argued, hoping that her boss would allow her to help look for Newt. "after all, I was one of the people who last saw him before he went missing."

"I know that," Theseus replied. "but you're too close to the matter. You came marching into my office in hysterics and I think your concern for my brother, however endearing, would hinder any attempt at finding him."

Tina turned beetroot at Theseus' words. She didn't want him to think that her enthusiasm for finding Newt was more than just her concern for a coworker and a friend.

"Continue with the ashwinder case, Goldstein," Theseus said with a tone of authority, finality etched in his statement. "I'll send for someone else from Newt's department to help you out."

"No, sir," Tina replies fiercely, fully aware that she had just defied a direct order from her boss. She appreciated that Theseus wanted her to close her first case as lead auror but she knew in heart that Newt was the only person capable of solving the case with her. And selfishly, she didn't want to solve the case without the person who helped her bring the case to light in the first place. He was the reason she even felt confident enough to take the case on, his belief in her made her believe in herself.

"I can't solve this case without Newt," she continues, looking intently at Theseus, gauging his expression to the words that were coming from her mouth. "I need him."

Theseus considers her for a while, eyeing Tina curiously as he came to his own conclusions on how close she had become to his brother. He always knew something was going on between the two of them ever since the debrief, but he never realized the extent of it all.

"I'm sorry, Goldstein," Theseus says after a few minutes of contemplating. "but I think it's best if you focus on something else for now. You say you need my brother for the ashwinder case, fine. I'm putting that case on hold until we find him."

Tina's heart sank when she heard her boss' final decision. She was determined to help find Newt but for some reason, Theseus won't allow it. And with the ashwinder case on hold, she didn't know what she would be doing in the meantime to distract her from worrying about Newt.

"Before all of this, you were assigned to potion smuggling case, am I right?" Theseus inquired when he saw the disappointment spread across Tina's face, who simply nodded at him in reply. "Well, I think it best you go back to helping out on that case in the meantime. I'm sure Shacklebolt would love to have you back, he's been raving about you since you decoded what was written in a ledger they found in one of the warehouses. He says that they have possible locations for other warehouses because of you."

Tina smiled weakly at Theseus, trying to mask her disappointment at being told to help on a case that wasn't as important as the one that involved finding her friend. But despite everything, Tina nodded at Theseus, finally accepting that maybe this was the right thing for her to do right now. It would be a helpful distraction.

"Thank you, sir," she said after a few seconds, finally accepting her fate and her new orders. She turns her back on her boss and starts to walk out of his office and back to her cubicle.

"Hey, Goldstein," Theseus calls out for her as she was exiting his office. Tina turns to face him, a timidness starting to settle over her. He gave her a reassuring smile and said, "don't worry, I'll keep you updated."

He flashes Tina another reassuring smile before turning back to the paperwork he had been working on before her outburst, not allowing a dumbstruck Tina to protest. She felt a hotness in her cheeks that Theseus had obviously ignored for her sake. Finally shaking out of her reverie, Tina closed the door behind her and walked back to her cubicle to tidy up the mess she had left there in her hurry to find Newt.

 _Don't worry, I'll keep you updated._

Those words stuck with her until the end of the day. She knew that Theseus didn't need to tell her anything about cases she wasn't involved in. He was her boss after all, not the other way around. But something about the smile he had flashed her way and the reassurance that he'll keep her updated told Tina that he knew something that she didn't, and it bothered her.

Tina reached her cubicle a few minutes later, still shaken from the conversation she just had with her boss and friend's brother. She inspected her desk and started to clean it up by hand, carefully tucking each piece of paper and each file she had on the ashwinder case and placing the file neatly in her top desk drawer. She was going to take them out later on when they found Newt. For now, she had another case to help solve, a case that would hopefully keep her mind occupied while another team of aurors go looking for Newt Scamander.


	9. Chapter 9: Finding Newt Scamander

Newt didn't know how long he had been unconscious. After his kidnappers had knocked him in the head when he was struggling to free himself from them, he was locked in a room on his own in what he suspected was the place where these men held the ashwinder eggs. Since he had been locked in solitary from the moment he was kidnapped, Newt hadn't been able to figure out what they needed the eggs for. His captors only ever stopped by to drop him food and water and not once have they even attempted to strike up a conversation with him.

Newt thought that after the kidnapping someone would eventually come and try to extract information out of him. After all, they all thought he was an auror and not simply a ministry employee from another department. It was only on what seemed like his third day of imprisonment that someone finally came to talk to him.

"Wake up," a man with a deep voice said while kicking the base of the chair they had tied Newt to.

Newt, who had just fallen asleep, was shaken awake by the slight quiver of the chair that his captor had just kicked. He looked up wearily at the man who had just woken him up from his nap and tried to make out his features. He squinted through the darkness of the room they had locked him in, trying to get a glimpse at the man who had just entered. He hadn't heard this man's voice before. He had grown familiar with the voices of the three men that he and Tina had encountered at the shop, but this man with a deep voice was unfamiliar to Newt.

The room was dark except for one corner near the door that was lit with a single light bulb. Newt hadn't seen the man enter and his features were hidden by the shadow that the single light in the room was casting on his figure. Newt looks back down to his feet, surrendering in his attempt to give a face to the unknown voice he had just heard.

"Who told you about our operation?" the man asked gruffly as he grabbed a stool from one side of the room and positioned it in front of Newt's battered form. Once he had decided that the chair was close enough, the man sat down in front of Newt, his face only inches away from his prisoner's lowered head.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Newt replied weakly, his strength waning, owing to the fact that he refused to eat or drink anything his captors had given him out of fear of being poisoned.

"You can't fool me, boy," his captor exclaimed angrily, a hint of impatience in his voice. "you clearly know what we're after. You and that little partner of yours."

Newt's senses sharpened at the mention of Tina. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the men that captured him would get to her and he wished that there was a way that he could send her a message to warn her to stay away from the shop and this case, even though he knew how much it meant to her.

The man in front of him chuckled at his sudden panic. He stood up from the stool he had occupied beforehand and started pacing the room, his hands resting on the small of his back and his body emanating a sense of relaxed authority.

"Don't worry, we don't need her." His captor said with a smirk, turning around to reveal the lower part of his face that included the scar on his upper lip. "We have you. You'll tell us everything we need to know."

Dread started to fill Newt's entire being, finally starting to feel fear creep upon his insides. He gulped hard despite how dry his mouth had gotten from the lack of water, comforting himself with the thought that Tina was far from danger. Any thoughts about escaping were at the far corners of his mind right now, all he cared about was keeping Tina safe and away from these men. That and trying to keep as much information away from them that could jeopardize the ashwinder case.

Despite their assurance that they don't need Tina, Newt didn't trust them. They might simply be saying this to get him to tell them things about her that would lead them to the very woman he was trying to protect.

Newt looks up at his captor, a man he assumed was the person in charge. He was met by gray eyes, eyes that had a viciousness about them. He gave the man in front of him a defiant glare, showing as much courage as he could. "I'm not telling you anything."

His captor grinned in amusement, inching so close to Newt that he could finally make out of the features of his captor. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."

* * *

Tina was sitting in the conference room that they had at the Auror Office, absentmindedly tapping the end of her pen on the table. She knew that she was supposed to be helping the team solve the potion smuggling case, but all she could think of was Newt. Where was he? How was he? Has Theseus started looking for him? Why did the bloody idiot go on an investigation by himself instead of taking her with him?

Shacklebolt and the other aurors assigned to the potion smuggling case were arguing over whose fault it was that they arrived late at one of the locations they suspected was used as a warehouse for the potions that were being smuggled by unknown suspects.

"How about instead of pointing fingers, we decide on what our next move will be," Amelia Brooks interjected, looking pointedly at the other aurors before turning to address Tina. "Goldstein, do you have anything to contribute to this little session that we're having or will I have to have you removed from this case because of your utter uselessness?"

"You don't have that authority, Brooks," Shacklebolt says in defense of Tina, who he has grown very fond of. "I'm the lead auror in this case and it is up to me to say who works on it and who doesn't."

Brooks gives Shacklebolt an annoyed look and sits down begrudgingly. The lead auror then turns his head back towards Tina's direction, waiting for her to say something.

"Well, uhm," Tina starts, trying to bring her wandering mind back to the present. "did any of you notice anything from the warehouse you raided yesterday? Something that could give us a hint as to where these potions were being transported to?"

"If you've been listening instead of staring off absentmindedly into space, you'd know that we didn't," Brooks quipped, tired of the conversation going around in circles. "when we reached the first location it was swept clean, not a single speck of dust was left for us to even analyze."

Tina places the tip of her pen thoughtfully on her lower lip, deciding to ignore Brooks' tone. She didn't have the energy to get into a screaming match with one of her teammates on a case, especially since Brooks was right about her not really listening to what everyone had been saying for the past hour. "Have you guys been to the other locations?"

"No," Ben Edwards, one of the other aurors on the case, answered immediately. "we've only started raiding the locations you've uncovered for us. We've been too busy trying to figure out the identity of the potions that this gang has been smuggling for the past few months."

"And?" Tina asked, knowing that the team had been trying to get this information since they've recovered a few flasks of the smuggled potions at the first warehouse they had raided before Tina had started working at the ministry.

"Most of them are really powerful love potions," Shacklebolt answered this time. "nothing like Amortentia but they're more potent than most of the other known love potions that we've known about for centuries."

Shacklebolt tucks his hand into his pocket and produces a flask of liquid that resembled molten gold. "This however, we haven't been able to identify. We've tested it on countless specimen, we even took in human volunteers, but still nothing."

Tina stares at the potion in her colleague's hand. She has never seen a potion like this one before. She considers it for a while before finally saying, "I think we should raid the other locations. We might find something there that might be useful."

"Given the state of the last warehouse we've been to, I think it's a bad idea," Emily Philips said from her corner. "they know that we've gotten wind of the locations of some of their warehouses and I'm sure they're moving all their potions to a more secure location."

"If this operation is as big as we believe it to be, there's bound to be a slip up," Tina answers determinedly. "there's no harm in checking the other locations out just in case there's something to recover there. Any kind of information is helpful than nothing at all."

The other aurors inside the room gave a nod of agreement, agreeing with what Tina had just said. Shacklebolt turns to look at Tina and gives her a smile of reverence, thankful that a sharp-witted witch was finally assigned to the largest case their office has had for a while. "There are four more locations left. I say we split up into pairs and each take a location. Scour the place for clues and bring back anything you find."

Shacklebolt took out his wand and gave it a simple wave. Pieces of parchment began to appear in front of the group of aurors, followed by quills that scribbled the addresses of the four locations that they have yet to raid.

"We all get to choose our respective locations," Shacklebolt says after four pieces of parchment fell to the center of the table. "Brooks you're with Philips."

The two aurors nodded at their leader and picked a small piece of parchment from the table that contained the address they were assigned to check out. They gave each other a sideways glance before they both shrugged and exited the conference room together, leaving the rest of team behind to pick their own destinations.

"Edwards you're with Longbottom," he nods at the man standing opposite him before turning to Tina. "that leaves you and me, Goldstein."

Tina nods at Shacklebolt as Longbottom walks over to the table and takes another piece of parchment from the table before asking, "How about the last location? We don't have any more people we can dispatch to check it out."

"If we don't find anything, we'll pay a visit to the last warehouse once everyone has reported their findings on the locations they've picked out," Shacklebolt answers with so much certainty, making Tina understand why he was the auror that had taken the lead in most of the cases that the Auror Office had to investigate.

The two aurors gave their leader a nod before exiting the conference room like their two other teammates. Tina was left alone with Shacklebolt, two pieces of parchment left scattered on the desk with two different warehouse locations.

"I'll give you the honor of picking out our location, Goldstein," Shacklebolt said with a cheeky smile.

Tina shakes her head at him before she grabs one of the bigger pieces of parchment from the table and uncovered it. She read the address that was written messily on the piece of parchment she was holding and showed her partner where they were heading.

"I was hoping you weren't going to pick that one," he groaned after he read the address. He walked towards the entrance of the room with a chuckling Tina in tow as they set off to the neighborhood directly beside Spinner's End, the one location that Tina always felt they should have raided in the first place.

* * *

Newt had passed out again. He can't remember how many times his captors had used the cruciatus curse on him to get him to reveal how he had gotten wind of their operation. He had told them countless times that he didn't know what operation they were referring to. He was just interested in studying these new creatures called ashwinders when he ran into the men who kidnapped him.

At the mention of the fire-causing magical beasts, Newt's captors began grilling him about how he had discovered their need for the beast's eggs. He had replied that he had no idea what the use of ashwinder eggs was, that he was simply trying to figure out why they needed the eggs by observing a live ashwinder when they had captured him.

"If you'd only tell me what possible use you'd have with those eggs, this could all be resolved," Newt had reassured his captors, his entire body feeling sore from the amount of torture that he had to endure since they had captured him. "I only want to know what they're for. For research purposes."

The four men in the room eyed him suspiciously, one of them rising from his chair, ready to strike Newt with his hand instead of using his wand. The leader held his hand up, preventing the man who just stood up from doing any harm to Newt before he jerked his head in the direction of the door, giving a silent instruction for him to check if their hideout was still inconspicuous. The man simply nodded at his boss and exited the room as instructed.

The man with the scar on his upper lip, gray eyes, and a rather sharp, scruffy jawline, who Newt had confirmed during the course of this interrogation was the leader and mastermind of the entire operation, stepped forward and lowered his eyes to Newt's level.

"And what does your pretty little partner want?" the leader of the gang asked, knowing that there was something that his captive wasn't revealing to him.

"She just wants to find out why you bred these creatures," Newt answered, finally giving away the last piece of information he had been keeping from them, his bruised face and tired eyes only inches away from his captor's. "they're the cause of the fires that led her to lose her home. She just wanted to find out why someone would even think of creating creatures that are burning down buildings that innocent people have been living in."

"Then she's even more clueless than you are, boy," the leader replied, turning his back to Newt as he returned to pacing in front of him.

"Boss, we need to go," the man who had exited the room said, jogging lightly back into the room where they had been interrogating Newt. "I saw two aurors heading this way. They were part of the group of aurors that raided our last headquarters."

"These aurors are getting better," the leader stated as he started to untie Newt from the chair he was sitting in. "I never thought they would be able to get anything from the ledger that you idiots had forgotten to retrieve during the last raid. But they have managed to."

The three men cowered behind their boss, afraid that the man would turn his wand to all three of them and hex them for almost blowing up the entire operation. But the man with the scarred lip simply gestured at them to grab everything that would give away their presence once again before turning to Newt. "We're not done with you yet, boy. So, I guess you're coming with us."

He then wraps Newt in the burlap sack he was brought in with, lifting the lanky wizard into his arms single-handedly. One of the frozen ashwinder eggs that Newt had kept with him after depositing the rest to Mr. Hughes a few days before had fallen from his pocket and onto the floor, just on top of the blanket that Newt had taken with him when he set off on his mission to find a live ashwinder by himself that got him caught by these men. For days he looked at the blanket and found solace in it because it was Tina's blanket before he had taken it with him. He found strength in a silly trinket that belonged to an amazingly strong witch. He was glad that his kidnappers had thought of bringing the stupid blanket with them just to make sure that anyone who went looking for Newt wouldn't have a clue on how to find him because there won't be a single trace indicating that he was even kidnapped in the first place. What they failed to realize is that the wizard they had kidnapped was missing a wand, a wand that was in the possession of a very determined team of aurors who were currently trying to find ways to track down the very prisoner they were keeping with them.

"What was that?" the scar-lipped man asked when he heard the thud of the frozen egg as it hit the top of the blanket on the floor. He squinted in the darkness, searching for whatever it was that fell out of Newt's pocket and onto the floor. Both he and Newt heard wood banging and rustling from the front door. The man carrying Newt huffed in frustration at the realization that he had no time to look for whatever it was that fell from his captive's pocket. He exited the door quite hastily, narrowly avoiding two aurors who had started to examine the empty rooms that they had left behind.

"Boss, what about the blanket?" one of the men asked when he saw that his boss came out with only Newt in hand.

"Didn't have time to grab it," the man answered back a little annoyed at himself. "let's hope they won't make anything of it when they find it."

* * *

Tina and Shacklebolt had arrived at the location of the warehouse they were supposed to be raiding half an hour after they had left the ministry. It was hard to locate which part of the neighborhood the warehouse was located in since there were no street signs anywhere in sight.

It was Tina who had finally found the building they were supposed to be raiding. The building had looked abandoned and Tina had half a mind abandoning their attempt to search it. The two-story building was made of wood and had a front porch, something that neither auror would have suspected as a warehouse for storing smuggled potions. It looked more like a home for a wizarding family of four, not a place where illegally made potions were being stored and smuggled.

The door creaked as Shacklebolt pushed it open. He and Tina were immediately met by an empty room, a staircase directly to the right of the door and more rooms can be seen towards the back of the house. Shacklebolt closed the front door as soon as Tina had gotten inside. He inspected the area first before jerking his head at her, signaling that she should search the lower floor as he headed up the staircase. Tina, not needing to be told twice started to walk deeper into the building, her wand held out in preparation to case a spell when needed.

Tina flicked her wand and a little speck of light appeared, illuminating the darkness of the room. She treaded as lightly as she could, noticing that the floorboards were a little weak with every step she took. She looked tentatively at the walls and the frames of the doors that led to the room at the back of the warehouse. She saw nothing of consequence, so she walked even further, pushing the half-closed door of the room at the back.

The door creaked again as Tina pushed at it, taking a step inside the room and looking around for any clues she could find. She was met by a half-empty room. It had a single window and a table at the far right. There was a chair tucked inside the table and a stool right beside it. To the left of the room was a stock cupboard, which Tina suspected the smugglers used to hold the potions that they were smuggling. Beside the cupboard was a trunk that had its lock hanging open.

Tina decided to venture in deeper to look at the contents of the table before she inspected the cupboard. On top of the table sat an empty ink bottle and a quill. She didn't find any piece of parchment on the table that could reveal some insight into what other use the place would have besides storing smuggled potions for before it was abandoned.

Realizing that there was nothing more she could get from the table, Tina moved on to the cupboard and trunk. She opened the old cupboard and again was met with disappointment. There was nothing in there except a single empty corked flask. She moved to grab it and uncork the flask before taking a whiff of it, hoping that some sort of aroma would still be stuck in the flask. Her senses were met by the familiar scent of fresh coffee, broom polish, and an earthy, peppermint smell that she realized closely resembled how Newt smelled.

"Amortentia," she muttered to herself as she moved to stopper the flask and place it in one of her coat pockets. "they must have used this place to experiment on making other love potions."

Tina then walks over to the trunk and uses her wand to drag it to the center of the room. She removes the lock from the trunk before she opens it to inspect its contents. She moved to cover her nose and mouth as soon as a wave of dust greeted her upon opening the trunk. She swats at the air to disperse the dust particles away from her and the trunk and then peeps into it. To Tina's disappointment the trunk was empty and of no use. She returned it to where it was originally located, not bothering to returning the lock and placing it on top of the trunk.

Tina was about to exit the room and find Shacklebolt when she noticed something familiar at the corner of the room. She walks over to what she had just seen and crouches, dipping her hands into the familiar pile of ash she had kept seeing since her investigation on ashwinders with Newt.

"Goldstein!" Shacklebolt calls for her from outside, having finished doing his rounds of the upstairs. "Find anything?"

"Nothing of use, no," Tina says a little confused as she stands up from where she was crouching, her train of thought interrupted and the conclusion she was beginning to draw shattering.

Tina dusts off her hands and walks out of the room, a little disconcerted at the presence of ashwinder ash in a potion smuggling warehouse. Her confusion must have been too evident because Shacklebolt had immediately asked her, "You alright?"

"Yeah," she replies half-heartedly, breaking from her reverie as she turned to face her partner. "did you find anything upstairs?"

"No," Shacklebolt replied in disappointment, a frown starting to form. "there were two rooms up there but from the look of things I'd say they only used those rooms for sleeping."

"I found this flask," Tina says as she retrieves the flask she had tucked into her pocket, realizing that she forgot to mention it to him before. "it smells of aromas that I love which made me think it must have contained amortentia before it was emptied. They must have been brewing the love potion they've been smuggling here."

Shacklebolt nodded at his teammate, a little defeated that neither of them found anything else that they could use for their case. "Bring it along, we better head back to the ministry. Maybe the others had better luck than we did."

Tina nods in agreement before following Shacklebolt, who was heading for the front door. As she was walking towards the entrance of the warehouse, Tina carefully checked her surroundings, particularly the corners or edges of the room they were walking through to find if there were other traces of ash like the one she had seen in the back room. She found more ash by the front door, a trail of it leading to a larger heap by the corner in front of the staircase.

Tina didn't know what to make of this. Her thoughts started racing, trying to figure out why there could be ashwinder ash in one of the warehouses. But before she could come to yet another conclusion, she heard a snap and realize that Shacklebolt had just apparated back to the ministry. Sighing, she followed his lead, a little annoyed that she wasn't going to find any moment of peace to find an explanation to the presence of the ashes in the warehouse.

* * *

Newt felt like throwing up. Despite the emptiness of his stomach, he knew that if they had to apparate one more time he was going to vomit up stomach acid. He was never one who felt uncomfortable with apparating but considering that his body was tired and sore and that his captors decided to apparate with Newt slung over their shoulders, he understood why he felt sick.

Not only was he carried over his captor's shoulder, he was also wrapped in a burlap sack that smelled like a mixture of ash, dried blood and sweat, and his own distinct smell. It was enough to twist anyone's insides.

They had arrived at yet another warehouse and based on how long they've walking, Newt knew that it was larger than the last one they were in. He felt himself being carried up a flight of stairs and deposited in yet another room. The burlap sack was taken off of him as he saw the man with the scarred lip leave the room, Newt's hands and feet still tied with a rope. He heard the click of the door, signaling that it was being locked from the outside.

Newt had no idea what else his captors wanted from him. He had told them everything he knew. If they asked him anything more, Newt knew he wouldn't be able to tell them anything. He also knew what would come after. Since he was of no use to them anymore, the only left to do was dispose of him. His thoughts started to drift to ways that his captors would dispose of him when he heard hushed tones from behind the door.

"Another batch of them creatures is coming up, boss," a voice of a different man said, this man having a higher-pitched voice compared to the other four men that Newt had already met.

"Good," the man with the scarred lip replied. "catch one for me before it lays eggs and bring it here."

"Yes, boss."

"And a flask of what we've been brewing," the boss added, to which his crony nodded and rushed off to gather.

Newt heard more footsteps heading down the stairs and was thankful for being left alone, even if only for a minute. He closed his eyes, the need for rest too intense as the men below started shuffling and going about their daily routine as if they didn't have someone in the house that could expose their operation.

* * *

Tina and Shacklebolt were the last ones to return to the ministry. As soon as they arrived, they went straight to the conference room where Brooks, Philips, Longbottom, and Edwards were waiting for them.

"Any good news?" Shacklebolt asked in greeting, walking up hastily to the head of the table, leaving Tina to close the door.

"Nope," all four aurors replied, shaking their heads in unison.

Tina had taken to leaning against the conference room door, crossing her arms across her chest. She was deep in thought, finally having some time to think about the implications of finding ash in the warehouse that she and Shacklebolt had raided.

"Tell me you at least found something that could be of use to us?" Shacklebolt asked the others again, his confidence slowly waning at the realization that they weren't actually getting anywhere with their investigation.

"Not unless you consider a blanket as 'something useful'," Brooks replied as she pulled out the blanket that she and Philips found in the abandoned warehouse they had searched.

Tina was still deep in thought, too distracted to pay attention to the blanket that Brooks had just pulled out. Her mind was piecing together information on the first two cases she had been assigned to ever since she started working at the ministry.

Shacklebolt turned to Edwards and Longbottom. "How about you two?"

"I don't know if this could be considered as useful," Edwards said initially as he pulled out something from his coat pocket. "but we found this."

He laid a frozen ashwinder egg on the table, totally oblivious as to what it was. "We have no idea what it is, but it was the only thing that was left behind at the warehouse we raided."

Tina heard the conversation that was transpiring between her teammates, but her mind was too preoccupied with the possibility of the potion smuggling case that the department had been working on for months being connected to the ashwinder case that she and Newt had brought to them just recently. She didn't think that a blanket or something that was unknown to them would help her in finding the connection between the two cases, so she continued to ignore the objects that the other aurors had recovered.

It was when she couldn't find any connection that Tina finally had the decency to look up and inspect the objects she thought were useless. She felt her heart hitch in her throat at the sight of the blanket that she realized belonged to her and a frozen ashwinder egg beside it.

Tina rushed towards the table from where she was standing previously. She took the blanket in her hands and ran her fingers through the familiar cotton cloth just as another frozen ashwinder egg fell from the insides of the blanket. In Brooks' and Philips' haste to retrieve the blanket from the warehouse they raided, they had failed to see a frozen ashwinder egg tucked inside the confines of the blanket.

Tina immediately crouches, searching the floors of the conference room for the egg that had just fallen from the blanket she had in hand, _her_ blanket. She found the familiar egg only a few inches away from her and immediately picked it up. She stood from where she had ducked and held up the items that her colleagues had brought in, the connection between the two cases finally coming to her.

"What is it, Goldstein?" Philips was the first to ask, looking eagerly at her coworker who look like she finally had the answers to questions they have been asking for months.

"We need to head to the fifth location," Tina stated fiercely, finally letting go of the objects she had in her hand and leaving them on the table. "now."

Tina walked past her coworkers, who had a slightly confused look on their faces. She reached the door of the conference room in a matter of minutes and wrenched it open, walking briskly towards the office of the head of the department, a look of determination etched all over her features. The aurors left in the room gave each other puzzled looks, unsure why their coworker would suggest them raiding another location when they had just established that it was useless. However, their curiosity got the best of them so they followed Tina out of the conference room and followed her towards Theseus Scamander's office.

"You have to come with us," Tina demands as she rushes into her boss' office, looking urgently at a confused Theseus, who was talking to another auror that Tina suspected was part of the team looking for Newt.

"I don't think you have the authority to tell me what to do, Goldstein," Theseus retorted, rather annoyed that Tina had the audacity to come bursting into his office and tell him what to do.

He turned his attention back to the two aurors he had been talking to before Tina had come bursting into his office, completely disregarding the urgency in her voice. Tina was slightly taken aback by Theseus' tone and demeanor. She had thought that since they were both concerned about Newt's safety that he wouldn't question her, but apparently, she had to point out why she thought that he should come with them.

The aurors on the potion smuggling case had finally caught up to Tina, still confused as to why they were disturbing their boss when they had zero leads.

"I think we've just found Newt," Tina offers, completely ignoring the confusion in her teammates' face at the mention of Newt Scamander. She hoped that the information she had just shared would be enough to convince Theseus to trust her.

Theseus' head snapped back towards Tina, his eyes etched with so many questions. "How…?"

"It's all connected," Tina continued, words rushing out of her mouth as fast as they could. "the potion smuggling case, the ashwinder case, Newt's disappearance. It's all connected."

Theseus considers Tina for a second, not moving a single muscle as he tries to connect the three cases that she had mentioned.

"We don't have time," Tina pleads, imploring her boss to listen to her because she felt like they didn't have much time left. "please, just trust me."

"Fine," Theseus grumbled, waving at the two aurors he had been talking with to come with them as well. "where are we going?"

Tina turned to Shacklebolt, giving him a look that only meant that she wanted him to show Theseus where they were going. The head of the potion smuggling case simply handed their department head the last piece of parchment containing the address of the last warehouse. Theseus read the address that was scribbled on the piece of paper before looking up at Tina, his eyes now full of determination themselves. He nodded at her and they set off to the place written on the piece of parchment, the place where his younger brother was being held, and the place that would tie up all the loose ends of not only one, but three unsolved cases that their department has been trying to deal with this past week.

* * *

Newt had woken mere minutes after he fell asleep. He felt uncomfortable with the position he found himself in, both his limbs still tied with rope and his body splayed across the hard cement floor of the room he was locked in. As if on cue, the boss and leader of the operation he knew nothing about had walked with a chair in one hand and some more rope and a knife in the other. He moved to free Newt from his bonds and immediately placed the captive on the chair, tying his hands at the back of the chair as soon as Newt had been propped up properly.

The boss walked from behind Newt and up the front, crouching in front of his captive, locking eyes with the weary young man. "I have a surprise for you."

Newt looked up as his captor stood up. He followed the man's gaze as another man entered the room with a what looked like a serpent in hand. The serpent was attempting to slither across the man's arms but was held in place by the man's fingers. It was thinner than most serpents that Newt had seen before and it was pale-grey in color with glowing red eyes.

"This is what you've been looking for," the boss said, grinning proudly at Newt. "this is what you've dubbed as 'the ashwinder'."

Newt looks from him to the creature, excitement flooding his entire being despite the situation he was currently in. All his worries about his fate or these men getting to Tina started to become less important compared to the creature that was in front of him. During his investigation with Tina, he had always hoped that he would see one of these in person. Who knew that he had to be held captive first before he could lay eyes on a live ashwinder?

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The other man said, walking up to Newt and holding it up for him to inspect.

Newt was about to answer, but stopped himself, realizing that these men weren't his friends. The man holding the ashwinder lowered the creature and set it free, allowing it to slither to the darkest corner of the room. Newt's eyes followed the creature, almost missing it as it was quick in moving. His eyes observed the pale-grey serpent in awe as it started laying the familiar brilliant red eggs that had gotten Newt in his current situation.

Both men raised their wands as soon as the ashwinder had finished laying its eggs and froze them. The man who had brought the ashwinder to the room went to pick up the frozen eggs. He then started to walk for the door, stopping by his boss and leaving a single frozen ashwinder egg with him before he exited the room, closing the door behind him.

"Now," the man with scarred lip said, walking towards Newt. "before I kill you, let me tell you everything. You won't be able to tell anyone about it anyway."

His captor flashed Newt an evil smile, triumph etched all over his face at the thought of no one ever discovering them because the last trace the ministry had to them was in his grasp and would be dead in a few short minutes, just after he told him about the significance of the eggs he had in his hand. He pulled out two vials containing two different potions and showed them to Newt, detailing every single ingredient they had used to brew them, including the most important ingredient of all: frozen ashwinder eggs.

* * *

A group of aurors had appeared at the last location the potion smuggling team had in their possession. Unlike the four other warehouses, the fifth one was located in a secluded neighborhood that had fewer houses surrounding it.

As soon as Tina appeared, her eyes search for trails of ash that could possibly make the search for the last warehouse easier. The first building that she laid her eyes on was burnt down. It took all of her strength not to cry out, her thoughts coming to the conclusion that they were too late, and the last warehouse got burned down. Her eyes wandered to the building opposite the burnt down building, a glimmer of hope spreading through her. It was the perfect headquarters for an operation as large as potion smuggling. It was large enough to act as a storage space and looked like it had enough rooms that could be used to brew potions as well as house however many people were involved in the operation. It was also made of bricks and not wood like the five other buildings that had been used. No wood meant that it would be harder for the building to burn down in case a stray nest of ashwinder eggs wasn't found and frozen before they burst into flames.

"There!" Tina exclaimed at her fellow aurors, pointing at the brick building. She ran ahead of them, the eight aurors that had tagged along breaking into a run as well and following her lead.

With a swift movement of her wand, Tina had managed to unlock the front door of the warehouse and stun two unsuspecting men who were guarding its entrance. Tina's eyes scanned the vicinity, looking for any clue as to where Newt might be. The interior of the warehouse was similar to the last one that she and Shacklebolt had just raided, it was simply larger.

Without waiting for the others to arrive and apprehend the men who were staring at Tina in shock, she ran up the stairs and started searching the rooms for her friend, as if knowing that somehow Newt was up there and not down here.

"We're under attack!" Tina heard one of the men from below yell as the aurors started releasing curse after curse to apprehend the men that were working down below.

Tina was busy trying to wrench open the door of the second room to the left of the staircase when the door of the room at the far end of the hall flew open. Her eyes immediately flew to the man who had walked out, his wand pointed at her. She glared at him in determination, her brown eyes staring down his gray ones. She saw the man smirk, the scar on his lip becoming more evident because of it. Tina started to walk towards him, flinging her wand in his direction and deflecting some of the curses and hexes he was sending her way.

A window of opportunity presented itself and Tina sent the man in front of her flying backwards into the room where he was keeping Newt, disarming him in the process. Tina immediately summoned his wand to her, walking as fast as she could towards the room in the hopes of finding Newt in there.

What met Tina when she entered the room drained all the blood from her face. She saw Newt tied to a chair, his body limp and weak from the torture he had to endure for the past few days. He was unconscious, and it took everything in Tina to convince herself that he wasn't dead. She was about to walk up to him when she heard a slight movement from the corner of the room, coming from the man she had just successfully disarmed.

"Levicorpus!" Tina exclaims as soon as she sees the man she had just jinxed lunge for her. He ended up suspended by his ankles, unable to move, finally giving Tina time to rush to Newt.

"Oh my god, Newt," Tina says as soon as she reaches him, immediately falling to her knees and untying the ropes that were binding his hands and keeping him tied to the chair he was sitting on.

Tina's hands immediately flew to Newt's face, raising his head so that she could assess the damage that his kidnappers had inflicted on him. He started to gain consciousness, his eyes unable to fix themselves on hers.

She steadied him, holding up his head by his chin with one hand as she started to trace the scar that had covered his left cheek, a pain tugging at her heart at the sight of him, never understanding how someone could hurt anyone who was as sweet as Newt. She then turns his head to her right, the bruise on his right eye and at the corner of his mouth illuminated by the single light in the room.

One of her hands flew to her mouth as she tried to stifle a gasp for Newt's sake. She moved her hand again, brushing away Newt's floppy hair from his eyes so that he could finally focus on her and her alone.

"Newt," she says softly, resting her hands against his right cheek. "Newt, look at me."

Newt could hear her voice and for a second he thought he was dreaming. "Tina," he says softly, his voice weak and weary as he looked up and locked eyes with her. A smile graces his lips before he falls forward, unable to hold his body up for one more second. Tina catches him before he falls to the floor, pushing him back towards the chair for him to lean on. She places her hand against his cheek again just to make sure he knew that she was really there.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Tina asked tenderly, her concern for him more important than her annoyance at his idiocy.

Newt looked at her and smiled at her weakly, the dorky smile that he always used when he was trying to get her to not be mad at him. "I just wanted to find out more so that we could solve the case. I knew how much it meant to you."

Tina resists the urge to kiss him, knowing that at any moment someone could walk in on them and their tender moment. Instead, she takes him in for a hug and whispers into his ear, "Not at the expense of losing you."

She tucks Newt's head against her shoulder, burying her own in his, breathing in the mixture of his familiar earthy scent and the blood and swear that had dried from the few days of torture that he had endured. Newt immediately wrapped his arms around her, glad to finally be in the company of people who weren't trying to hurt him. They held onto each other for a while, the realization that they both missed each other finally starting to sink in. Tina gives a sigh of relief and breaths it onto Newt's shoulders, thankful that she could finally stop holding her breath and sleep knowing that he was safe.

A beat passes and they disentangle from each other, their arms still loosely wrapped around the person in front of them. Their cheeks brush against each other for a brief moment, Tina feeling the scar that she had previously touched rub against her own cheek. It was then that everything felt like it was running in slow motion. Newt was suddenly aware of how close Tina was to him, her lips only a few inches from his own. The memory of the dream he had tucked away into the far corners of his mind finally started to come rushing back to him. Despite his weariness, his eyes immediately flew to her luscious pink lips, unable to help himself. He stared at them hungrily, realizing that it was almost like déjà vu having her this close to him, her lips just inches away from his, so close and yet again so far.

Tina felt her skin prick and every single hair on her body stand because of how close she was to Newt. She was aware of every minute detail as she slowly moved away from him. It didn't slip her notice how his eyes flickered to her lips for a split second before they immediately landed on her brown eyes. She blinks at him, a silent question starting to form inside her. She swallows hard, trying to find the courage to just move her face closer to his, plant her lips on his own and just kiss him like she had always wanted to do ever since she found him in the room.

They both heard the footsteps from downstairs grow louder and nearer. Before they could even move a single inch, Theseus had peered into the room, his wand at the ready in case a surprise attack was waiting for him.

The auror was caught by surprise by the scene that met him. His eyes immediately flew to the pair in the middle of the room whose faces were only inches apart and who looked like they were about to kiss. He then found a man suspended in the air, hung by his ankles by invisible ropes.

It was Newt who had first noticed his brother's entrance. He looked up at his brother using his unbruished eye, his arms falling from the small of Tina's back to his sides. The sudden loss of contact made Tina snap out of her trance, finally letting her hands fall to her sides and away from the face of the man she was just about to kiss.

Theseus was trying with all his might to conceal the satisfied smile he had plastered on his face when seeing the two of them together. He lowers his head and scratches his forehead, much like how Newt had done on countless occasions, Tina remarked to herself, before he looks back up and says to Tina, "Good job, Goldstein. You managed to solve three cases in one day."

Tina didn't know what to say to that. She simply stood up, her hand placed firmly on Newt's chest to keep him from falling face first onto the floor. Theseus moves from where he was standing and walked towards his little brother, taking Newt's battered form into his arms just as Tina navigated the man that she had suspended in the air with her wand.

The other aurors had arrived in the room just as Theseus was carrying Newt out and as Tina was dragging the mastermind of the entire operation with the invisible ropes that were holding him in place and keeping him suspended in the air out of the room.

"Shacklebolt," Theseus addresses his subordinate with difficulty as he was trying to keep his brother and himself steady. "dispatch an owl to Azkaban. Tell them to expect a couple of new prisoners to fill their cells. We'll be interrogating them next week after everyone has recovered."

Theseus glances at Tina as he was saying his last sentence, making it clear that the last sentence was for Newt's and her benefit more than anyone else's. Tina nodded in gratitude, glad that she would have the weekend to recuperate from the eventful week that she had. Shacklebolt nodded at his boss before taking the last of the prisoners from Tina, waving his wand at the man with a scar on his lip and tying him up with the rest of his cronies.

Tina glanced sideways at Newt, hoping to catch a glimpse of him before he would be sent to St. Mungo's for treatment. She saw him turn to his brother and whisper something. Theseus simply nodded at his brother's words before looking at Tina.

"I guess I'll see you around," Newt says as he smiled weakly at Tina, his voice a little hoarse.

"The last time you said that you ended up getting kidnapped," Tina jokes nervously, smiling at Newt despite herself.

Newt simply chuckles, ducking his head as he did so. Theseus watches the pair of them as they both try to find the right words to say to each other. Neither of them could, so he cleared his throat and said, "I better take him to St. Mungo's now."

"Yeah," Tina agreed, nodding in reply, her eyes looking anywhere but her amused, smug boss. She looks at Newt one last time and says, "I'll see you at home."

Tina gives Newt a final smile before she turns her back and disapparates back home, not allowing her roommate to respond.

Theseus adjusted his grip on his brother, finally feeling the heaviness of Newt's body.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," Theseus commented as soon as Tina was out of sight, glancing sideways at his brother, a teasing expression on his face.

"What's there to explain?" Newt asked through gritted teeth, his face feigning innocence at his brother's insinuation. "I was kidnapped because of a case you put me on. I'd love to know what mum would think of this."

Theseus groaned at the idea of having to tell their mother that it was his fault that her beautiful baby boy had gotten hurt.

"That's not what I meant, Newton," Theseus adds just as his little brother turned to give him a puzzled look.

"I know that's not what you meant, Theseus," Newt replies simply.

Theseus simply raises his eyebrows at Newt, amused that his little brother wasn't making excuses regarding his relationship with Tina.

"Just take me to St. Mungo's already," Newt added, finally feeling the extent of the torture he had received from his captors. "I'm tired and I just want some rest."

"Fine," Theseus relents, adjusting his grip on Newt in preparation to apparate. "but don't think for one second I'm letting this go."

"It's you, Theseus," Newt commented, his voice exhausted. "when have you ever let things go?"

Theseus laughs one last time before he apparates his brother and himself into the emergency area of St. Mungo's. He hands his brother over to one of the mediwitches that were standing by the entrance and starts filling out the necessary documents. He looks up from the paperwork and glances at his younger brother, who had smiled thankfully at him before he was taken into the emergency room for treatment. A sense of pride grew within Theseus at how his little brother had still managed to smile despite the torture he had gone through in the past few days. He shook his head at himself. He knew that they never had the conventional close brother relationship that everyone else had, but in that moment, Theseus was proud to call Newt his brother.

 _Now, if he'd just admit that there's something going on between him and Miss Goldstein, I would be one hell of a proud big brother._ Theseus thinks to himself, grinning from ear to ear as he turned back to finish the paperwork that was laid out in front of him.

* * *

A/N: Okay, I know that was a long read and I hope you guys enjoyed that. I just wanted to clarify a few things that might get me angry questions about this entire chapter. Yes, the two cases Tina have been working on were connected. The potions that were being smuggled required ashwinder egg for them to be successfully brewed. The first potion, like I said in the story is some form of love potion and based on my research all forms of love potion require ashwinder eggs in them, including amortentia. So once again, I'm going to use my 'this-is-an-AU' trump card and say that for argument's sake let's say that amortentia does not require ashwinder eggs in this universe (I hope JK Rowling never finds out I butchered one of the most powerful love potions in the world to fit a universe I created). The second one is felix felicis and in this universe, it has never been discovered until the creation of ashwinders. As for all other potions that I did not have time to research about that requires ashwinder eggs in them, you can simply assume that they haven't been created yet or that they don't require the eggs in them, just take your pick. I hope no hardcore potterhead murders me for this update because I know I've got a lot of the wizarding world lore a little wrong, but since I have the AU trump card, I hope you guys understand. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know your thoughts, I'm really curious as to what they are. Thank you for sticking with this story, it means the world to me. :)


	10. Chapter 10: There's No Place Like Home

Newt was staring out the window of his childhood bedroom at his parents' estate. It seemed so long since he last visited them at the estate. Memories of the day he asked Theseus where to take Tina on their friendly date started to flash through Newt's mind, his brother's words echoing as clear as day.

" _But if my suspicions are right and you do like this girl..."_

Newt shakes his head at himself as he lowers his head so he could stare at his feet, smiling at the thought of Theseus being right. Normally he would never be amused by whatever it is his older brother says or does, but he couldn't hide his amusement that Theseus knew before he did that he liked Tina. Apparently, he was clueless, as he always was when it came to people.

Newt raised his head again to stare out his window, admiring the hippogriffs his mother had bred that were flying in the air, his own thoughts drifting off to Tina and what she was doing back at home without him. He couldn't help but wonder if she was missing him like he was missing her right now. He kept imagining her eating dinner alone and how much he wished he could have been there to dine with her. His thoughts then drifted off to the last night that he had spent with her before his unfortunate kidnapping and he couldn't help but smile at the memory of her shuffling about the house trying to prepare dinner for the both of them. He remembered how it felt that night, how domestic it was, how simple, and how _nice_. He smiled again, this time his smile reaching his eyes, his expression brightening up at the thought of just Tina and how she's changed so much in his life since they met at that muggle coffee shop.

"I haven't seen you smile like this in a very long time," a tender voice said from the door of Newt's room, breaking Newt away from his thoughts of the girl that he fancies.

"Mum!" Newt exclaimed in surprise as he turned to face his mother who had just walked right into his room towards him, leaving the door ajar behind her. "I didn't see you come in."

"Oh, hush," Mrs. Scamander said in dismissal, waving her hands at her younger son. "I'm glad you didn't because I wouldn't have seen that smile if you had."

Newt chuckles nervously at his mother, scratching the back of his head as he avoided her gaze. He knew she was going to ask where that smile came from, and he was trying to come up with answers in his head fast. But when he looked up, Mrs. Scamander's expression turned from amused and happy to disappointed and sad.

"I thought you were staying for at least a week," Mrs. Scamander asked, a frown starting to form on her face as she started to look at her son from head to foot, inspecting the blue coat that he had on, one that he usually wore when he was heading out.

Before Newt could respond and argue his case, Theseus had walked by his room, hands in his pockets and a casual, relaxed aura about him. The auror had noticed that the door to his brother's room was open and immediately poked his head into the bedroom to see what was going on.

"I see you're ready to leave, brother," Theseus commented as he stood by the door of Newt's room, not making an attempt to enter because of his mother's presence. She wasn't pleased with him when she found out about what happened to Newt and she hadn't fully forgiven her eldest for getting her youngest into a situation that almost killed him.

"Yes," Newt replied quietly, as he turned away from the window to finally face his mother and brother, trying hard to avoid his older brother's gaze because he was sure that he would be teasing him again. "I go back to work tomorrow, so I really need to get back home."

Newt looked up tentatively at Theseus, regretting his decision immediately when he saw the mischievous glint the older Scamander had in his eyes. Newt groaned internally knowing that this was Theseus' silent way of teasing him about Tina.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?" Mrs. Scamander asked one last time, imploring her son to stay even for just one night. "You know how much your father and I love it when you come over."

"I'm sorry, mum," Newt apologizes. "I can't this time."

Newt gathers his mother in his arms for a quick hug, a hug that the older woman gladly returned. She held onto her younger son, a son who was a little taller than her before she let's go of him, placing her hand on one of his cheeks saying, "Promise me you'll stay safe? Don't ever scare us like that again, okay?"

"Don't worry, mum," Theseus replied cheekily from behind them, grinning from ear-to-ear as he gave his brother yet another mischievous grin. "I'm pretty sure someone's going to make sure he stays out of trouble after what happened last week."

Newt could feel heat rising to his cheeks as he turned beetroot at what Theseus had just implied. He stared blankly at his brother, dumbstruck that Theseus would still tease him about Tina in front of their mother. Mrs. Scamander had a confused look on her face as she looked back and forth between her sons, waiting for one of them to explain.

"What does he mean, Newton?" Mrs. Scamander finally asked a few minutes later when neither son said anything.

Newt felt panicky. He look at his confused mother and then at his smug brother before he turned back to his mother and replied, "You'll have to ask him that."

Before she could turn to Theseus and ask him what he meant, Newt planted a kiss on his mother's cheek and added hurriedly, "I need to go, mum. It's getting late. I'll see you soon, I promise."

He then walks past his mother, completely ignoring the confused look she had all over her face and walked towards the entrance of his room.

On his way to the door Newt walked past Theseus, who immediately blocked his little brother's exit by placing a hand on his elbow.

"Go get her, little brother," Theseus said in a low voice so that their mother wouldn't hear, his expression more encouraging now than teasing.

Newt chuckled nervously as he simply walked past his big brother. He turned slightly back simply to whisper a simple thank you back at Theseus for the talk they had at St. Mungo's, a talk that he didn't know would encourage him to finally do something about his feelings for Tina instead of trying to run away from them.

Newt then started to walk towards the fireplace in the estate that they had connected to the floo network, his heart beating harder than ever. The older Scamander looked at his brother as he walked away from them, pride swelling inside him. He then turned back to his mother who had a lot of questions running through her head, questions that were evident in her blue eyes.

"It's not for me to tell, mum. I'm sure he'll tell you everything when he's ready." Theseus simply said before he walks out of his brother's room towards his own room, remembering the talk that he and Newt had at St. Mungo's during his recovery after the kidnapping incident.

* * *

 _Theseus cannot remember the last time he had to fill out this much paperwork. Being the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement meant that he had people sending him completely filled out paperwork to read, so he didn't actually have to do any of them for himself._

 _He sighs as soon as he finally finished scribbling the last few details regarding his brother's past injuries and illnesses as well as family history before finally handing the papers back to the mediwitch that had given them to him when they arrived._

" _Thank you, Mr. Scamander," the mediwitch said as soon as she received the paperwork from Theseus. "the head mediwitch is patching your brother up. As far as I know he hasn't earned any severe injuries, just a couple of bruises. So, I think you both will be out of here in no time."_

 _Theseus gave the mediwitch a reverent nod and a charming smile that made her blush. Theseus ducked his head, an amused smile spreading across his lips at the effect he had on most women. He gave the mediwitch a last glance before heading to the emergency room where the head mediwitch was stitching up Newt._

 _As soon as he entered, Theseus was met with the usual image of his brother trying to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room so that he could avoid the inevitable conversation that would come up with the people around him. Despite his bruises and scratches Newt still had an innocence and lightness about him that was never present in Theseus. The two brothers have always been different, one the complete opposite of the other. Where Theseus was confident and outgoing, Newt was awkward and reserved._

" _There," the head mediwitch announced with a final wave of her wand as she finally finished stitching up the large cut on Newt's left cheek. "you're all fixed up."_

 _Theseus arrived beside the mediwitch just in time for her to look up at him. "You're brother's lucky he didn't sustain more serious injuries."_

 _The mediwitch then turned back to Newt as Theseus was tucking his hands into his coat pockets saying, "You have far too many bruises for my taste, but luckily your attackers didn't manage to do any damage to anything vital. I'd like to keep you here overnight, just for observation, but other than that you're not in any immediate danger."_

" _Thank you," Newt says with reverence, giving the head mediwitch a brief glance before ducking his head to go back to staring at the floor._

 _The mediwitch smiled at Newt and then did the same to Theseus, who gave her a thankful nod, before she left the two brothers to themselves._

" _So…"_

" _She's just a friend, nothing more," Newt says without even waiting for Theseus to ask him._

" _So defensive, Newton," Theseus replies with a devious smile, a hint of teasing in his voice._

" _Only because I know what you're going to say," Newt says in reply, looking his brother dead in the eye._

" _Or maybe because you're actually trying to hide the fact that you like her," Theseus says matter-of-factly, raising his eyebrows at his floppy haired little brother._

 _Newt immediately lowered his head, losing eye contact with Theseus, which confirmed what the auror already knew about his brother and how he feels for one of his aurors._

" _Why?" Theseus asks a few minutes later when his brother didn't say anything in reply, a curiosity laced in his question._

" _You know why," Newt replies sadly, not looking at his brother as he did._

 _Theseus shakes his head as he tucks his hands inside his pockets, understanding why Newt didn't want to acknowledge his feelings for Tina. The older Scamander then looked up at his brother, watching the younger Scamander with sad eyes and said, "That was different, Newt."_

" _How is it different, Theseus?" Newt replied fiercely, raising his head to look at the auror, his eyes laced with a pain that hasn't been seen between the brothers since the last time they were in a room together. "I'm in love with a girl who is my friend, my only friend."_

 _Newt looks away, unable to keep eye contact with Theseus as he admitted the truth to him. He then whispered, "and I don't want to lose her like I lost Leta."_

" _You won't," Theseus responded, surprising Newt at how sharp his sense of hearing was for him to have heard something as soft as a whisper._

" _How would you even know that?"_

" _Because she likes you too."_

" _It's one thing to tease me about this, Theseus," Newt says a little annoyed, angry that his brother would take things too far like this. "But it's another thing to mock me."_

" _I'm not mocking you, Newton," Theseus replied. "I'm simply stating a fact. Tina likes you. Surely you can see it yourself."_

 _Newt glares at his brother, anger starting to bubble inside of him because of the fact that Theseus would get his hopes up like this especially since a tiny ray of hope was starting to sprout in the deepest parts of his soul. "If you say so, Theseus."_

" _So," Theseus begins, an inquiry in his voice. "What are you going to do next?"_

" _Nothing," Newt replies in an annoyed tone. "Because we're_ just _friends. Now do let it go."_

" _You're going to stay friends if you don't do something about it, Newton," Theseus said seriously, the teasing and joking absent from his voice this time around as he approached his brother, a fierce look on his face as he inched closer toward Newt so that their noses were almost touching._

" _For once in your life don't you want to get the girl?"_

" _I'm not you, Theseus," Newt replies sadly, defeat laced in his voice. "I'm never meant to get the girl."_

 _Theseus presses his lips together, sadness starting to fill him. The auror then moves and pulls his little brother in for a hug, surprising Newt. The younger scamander always knew his brother was a hugger but it has been a while since_ they _shared a hug. The older Scamander pulled away first, placing a firm hand on his brother's shoulder, giving him a look of determination. "You're meant to get her this time."_

 _Newt stared at his brother, his face full of surprise at how much Theseus believes in what he was saying. Was the auror right? Did Tina really like him the way that he liked her? Was it his chance to get the girl? He knew that he shouldn't get his hopes up, but he felt a confidence inside of him start to grow because of his brother's encouragement._

 _Newt breaks his gaze with his brother, his mind reeling, so many thoughts racing through his mind; thoughts of Tina, thoughts of the encounter they had before Theseus had interrupted them in the potion smugglers' warehouse, thoughts the possibility of the two of them getting together. He then looked back up at Theseus, a determination the auror had never seen before painted all over his brother's face._

 _Theseus smiles when he sees the expression on his brother's face a few minutes later. The look of determination morphed into a look of someone who has everything figured out. He ducks his head for a split second before looking back at the younger Scamander, pride starting to spread through his entire being._

 _He didn't need to say it. He knew what his brother had planned. And he sure hoped it would work. For he had never seen two people as right for one another than his brother and Tina Goldstein._

* * *

Despite being given a free weekend by Theseus, Tina decided that she would finish the paperwork she needed to finish before she went back to work the next day.

She was halfway through her report on the potion smuggling case when she heard a sudden fizzle by the fireplace. To her surprise, Newt Scamander came out walking from the green flame that had just died down, his entire person covered in soot.

"Newt!" Tina exclaims as she rushes over to Newt, starting to pat his coat to remove the soot that had gathered all over his coat, moving to remove soot from his floppy auburn hair before realizing that it was maybe too forward, finally letting her hands fall to her sides. "I didn't think you'd be home until next week."

Newt's heart started to beat rapidly. His heart rate had started firing rapidly since he stepped out of the fireplace, his nerves getting the better of him and squashing all the confidence he had in him before he left the Scamander estate. It didn't help that Tina ran hurriedly to him and started patting off the soot from his entire body. He was frozen in place, with the woman he planned on winning tonight only a few inches from him.

"Newt?" Tina asks a few minutes later after Newt had continued to stare at her, blinking furiously and unable to utter a single word to her.

"Ah, yes, uhm," Newt stammers, trying to find his composure. "I thought it was a good idea to come home since I'm going back to work tomorrow. Maybe start on what I'm going to say at the debrief."

"You're going back?" Tina asked, her expression changing to that of concern which was also reflected in the worry in her voice. "Already?"

"Yes," Newt replied simply, his eyes going back and forth from Tina's and the sofa. "I don't see why I shouldn't."

"Well maybe because you've been through so much last week," Tina supplies matter-of-factly, her concern for him growing by the minute. "They can't expect you to go back immediately after _all_ of that."

"They don't," Newt replies, smiling at Tina, unable to help himself. "But I insisted. I don't like not doing anything when I'm perfectly fine."

Tina gives Newt a look of amusement, raising her eyebrows playfully at him. "You know, most people would have taken advantage of the free week they could have gotten out from work."

Newt chuckles, ducking his head in the process, happy that he and Tina finally settled back into the dynamic that they had before his kidnapping, like nothing even happened. "Yes, they would have."

"But not you," Tina interjects, locking eyes with Newt, something inside her telling her that Newt was going to say that next.

Newt stares at Tina in awe for a split second, amazed at how she already knew him like they've known each other for years despite only knowing each other for a month or so. He smiles at her, the brightness of his smile reaching his eyes before replying, "Nope. Not me."

Tina shakes her head at him as a smile started to spread across her lips. She did not find his decision surprising at all, maybe because she would have done the same thing if it had been her. Her work is where she thrived and it was nice to find someone who was the same.

Tina turned around, crossing her arms against her shoulders before saying, "Well at least let me get you some tea while you work."

She starts to walk away from him but Newt's hand immediately flew to catch one of her own before they were too far away.

"Tina."

Upon hearing the sound of his voice saying her name and feeling the tender grip he had on her fingers, Tina turned back slowly to face Newt, seeing how his expression changed from playful to serious.

Newt pulled her softly towards him, his heart beating so rapidly against his chest he thought it would jump right out.

Tina could feel herself being pulled towards the man in front of her. She felt the mood change. It felt like how it did back at the potion smuggler's headquarters, just before she was going to kiss him. Her heart started to beat really fast she started to feel dizzy.

"Yes?" Tina managed to ask weakly.

"I just wanted to thank you for saving me," Newt began, his hands still holding onto hers. "Theseus told me that if it wasn't for you they wouldn't have even thought me lost."

Newt looked up, raising his head from its previously ducked position to lock eyes with Tina. "Thank you."

He started to pull her towards him, their bodies getting closer, their faces inching closer to one another. Newt could feel Tina's breath hitch as he was pulling her closer to him. He could feel his own heart beating hard against his chest, his mind reeling at all the thoughts that were passing through his mind.

Newt wasn't entirely sure with himself if he was being honest. He knew what he wanted to do, what he _planned_ to do. But he was having second thoughts. Would he be any good at it? He had never done it before after all.

His earlier conversation with Theseus at St. Mungo's started to come back to him.

" _I don't want to lose her like I lost Leta…"_

" _You won't…"_

" _How would you even know that?"_

" _Because she likes you too…"_

 _But does she really?_ Newt asks himself, doubt starting to take root inside of him. _Maybe Theseus is wrong. Maybe he's just playing games with me and I lose Tina for good? I can't lose the only friend I have._

He could see every detail of Tina's face very clearly now. She was so close to him that he could feel the ghost of her lips on his. His mind was still racing with self doubt. He needs to make a decision now.

His eyes flicked from her eyes to her lips and then back again. She was so close to him and in a fraction of a second his overthinking managed to get the best of him.

I'd rather have her as my friend than not have her in my life at all.

He had decided. So, instead of planting a kiss on her lips like he had planned to do only when he decided to come home, he pulled her in for a hug, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and resting his chin against the crook of her neck.

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," he whispered in her ear, immediately regretting his change in decision.

Newt pulled away from the hug, allowing his hands to run down Tina's shoulders before letting them drop to his side.

Tina stood rooted in place, blinking furiously at the man in front of her. She was dumbstruck. A million thoughts were running through her head, her mind unable to process what had just happened between Newt and herself, even though it was simply hug.

If was being completely honest, her heart sank in disappointment the moment Newt wrapped his arms around her for a hug. She thought, _hoped_ , that he was going to do something else, something more intimate than a hug, something _she_ had wanted to do when they found him at that warehouse.

Tina was taken back to reality at the loss of Newt's touch. She immediately looked at him, her brown eyes immediately finding his beautiful green ones. She chuckled nervously, tucking her hair behind her ear and ducking her head before saying, "It was nothing. Anyone would have done it once they realized you were missing. I just happened to realize it early on."

"I'm not sure they would have, Tina," Newt replied simply, cocking his head in the way that he always did before. "Like I've told you before, I don't have friends. No one would have even known I went missing had it not been for you."

Tina frowns at Newt's statement. She remembered the first time they met when he told her that he didn't have friends, and she didn't really believe it at that time. But after weeks of being around him, of living with him, Tina had seen that he had told her the truth back then. People did tend to avoid him because of his quirks, quirks that she has now grown to love.

"You're welcome," Tina said with a reassuring voice, smiling at him as she takes on of his hands in hers, squeeizing them reassuringly. "Now let me get you that cup of tea I promised you when you arrived."

She disentangles their hands and turned away from Newt, walking towards the kitchen. She turned back when she reached the kitchen countertop to look at Newt, a mixture of playfulness and doubt etched all over her face. "Even though I have no idea how to."

Newt chuckles lightly, amused at Tina's antics. He shakes his head at her before walking towards the kitchen to teach her how to brew some tea. "Here let me teach you."

Newt stood behind Tina, the left part of his body touching her right. She looked at him with reverence, smiling at herself as she watched him rummage between the boxes that contained tea bags and ones that contained loose tea leaves that he had stocked in the cupboards of his kitchen. He took a teapot out of one of the cupboards along with a bag of loose camomile tea leaves and set them all down on the countertop. He then turned to her and gave her a simple smile before he began instructing her on how to brew tea from loose tea leaves.

Neither Newt or Tina moved a single inch since they both stepped into the kitchen, both of them comfortable in the position that they were both in. Newt continued to instruct Tina on how he brews his tea. Tina, loving how animate Newt was while he was doing so, simply nodded and smiled at him to confirm that she understood what he was saying. At one point during the whole tutorial session, Tina had leaned against Newt, a part of her nervous that he would move away from her and they would lose contact yet again. But he didn't, and for that she was thankful.

Tina looked up at Newt again, her eyes shining with admiration for the man giving her a tea brewing tutorial. She silently vowed to herself to be there for him no matter what. A man like Newt Scamander deserves friends, and she would be exactly that even though she knew she wanted something more.

As soon as Tina turned her head to look at the teapot in front of her, Newt had turned to look at her as he started to pour hot water into the teapot. He couldn't help but smile as he was admiring her face. He turned back to look at the teapot, placing the loose tea leaves that he had retrieved from his cupboards into the teapot.

"There," Newt said merrily, replacing the lid back on the teapot. "All done."

"Shouldn't we let that steep first?" Tina asks as she raised her eyebrows at Newt.

"Are you sure you don't really know how to brew tea, Miss Goldstein?" Newt replies now raising his own eyebrows at her, a challenge laced in his voice.

"I might have exaggerated on my tea brewing abilities," Tina smiled guiltily in reply. "Or lack thereof."

She pauses for a minute and looks up at Newt, who was now looking at her playfully.

"I do know how to brew them using tea bags," she continues to explain, never taking her eyes off Newt. "Not from the loose leaves you have stocked in your cupboard."

"Well, now you know."

"Now I know."

She smiles weakly at Newt for split second before widening her smile at him as soon as she saw how brightly he had smiled at her for her honesty. She then moved to grab a teacup for Newt and herself before looking back at Newt who had a look of confusion on his face.

"Two teacups?" Newt asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

Tina simply gives him a look of innocence before walking back to where she was working.

"No," Newt said in disbelief after he realized what was going on, excitement starting to build up inside him.

"Yes," Tina replied matter-of-factly. "Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to try."

Newt continued to stare at her in awe, still unable to believe that he had lived to see the day where Tina Goldstein would willingly drink a cup of tea despite how she much she said she hated it.

"Besides," Tina continues, setting the two teacups on the table before resuming her position before Newt came popping out of the fireplace. "we haven't done tea week yet."

"I thought you might have forgotten about that after everything that happened."

"A deal's a deal," Tina says with conviction before she starts to pick up the teapot from the table to pour some tea into Newt's and her cups.

"Wait!" Newt exclaims as he held out his hand to stop Tina from pouring out the tea. He then rummages through another cupboard to retrieve two tea strainers. "You'll need these."

He rushed over to where Tina was sitting and placed the strainers on top of the teacups that Tina had laid out for them. He then took the teapot from her hands and poured out tea for the both of them, offering Tina her teacup as soon as he managed to remove the strainers.

"There you go," Newt says as he offers Tina her cup of tea, before taking his own at taking a tentative sip.

"Thanks," she replies with a smile before following his lead and taking a sip.

As soon as the warm liquid touched her lips Tina's face contorted into one of disgust. "Good luck convincing me that this is superior to coffee."

Newt laughs before taking another sip of his own cup of tea, reveling at its taste and the warmth that it imparted.

"You're not off to a good start, Mr. Scamander," Tina says shaking her head and eyeing her teacup with contempt.

"I'll change your mind at the end of the week," Newt replies confidently, giving Tina one final look before settling into his side of the living room and starting on his own paperwork.

"We'll see," Tina says coyly, begrudgingly taking a sip of tea before returning to the paperwork she had left scattered on the table the moment Newt had stepped out of the fireplace.

* * *

 **A/N: First off, I would like to apologize for the delay in the updates. I know I said I'll be finishing my fics before the year ends but real life is really busy and I only manage to write in the small bits of free time I get to myself. Secondly, I'm sorry this is shorter than the last chapter. I know I owe you guys a long chapter haha. Let me know what you think about this chapter, I always love reading your comments. Lastly, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! This is my gift for you all to thank you guys for sticking with this story despite the long breaks between updates.**


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